iiiiiiiiiiiuiimiii 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Class  -aj^Lo«*» 


-tstte^ — 

PSYCH. 
LIBBABT 


ies  in  Spiritism.  By  Amy  E,  Tan- 
n^.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
$2.50  net.      noSHvx,  ttj Sri  i  o 

The  aim   of  this   book  is   to  analyze     coi^structive  excellence,  not  by  entranc 
ornii^hiv  thP  <.vir^or,^o  f^v  or.,-,,;*  „ —      edpassion."    As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was 


in  the  pursuit  of  beauty  than  the  Spen 
serian,  the  manner  of  Jonson  seeks  tc 
realize     her     perfections   by   means    o1 


thoroughly  the  evidence  for  spirit  com 
munication  and  telepathy,  test  it  rigor- 
ously and  scientifically,  and  see  whe- 
ther the  really  substantiated  facts  are 
best  accounted  for  on  a  spiritistic  or  a 
naturalistic  hypothesis.  The  book  is 
the  outcome  of  a  long  and  systematic 
investigation  carried  on  by  Dr.  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall  and  his  special  assistant,  Dr. 
Amy  E.  Tanner.  Though  the  body  of 
the  work  is  written  by  Miss  Tanner,  the 
influence  of  Dr.  Hall  is  evident,  and  he 
concurs  in  the  conclusions  arrived  at. 
The  Introduction,  moreover,  and  one  of 
the  chapters  are  written  by  him.  It  is 
probably  advantageous  for  tae  influence 
oflanp  •diqsj'Bioqos  XaBja^n  u'BDiaamv 
ttjuot*  :[tj:juod  injaD-eag  pub  Suiiuj-eqa 
cQpuB  iui9q  sji  s:ju9Aa.id  ao  'jijoav  oqj 
d^aianpsBj  9q:^  saqsiujmip  Ai90.ihos 
s     JO     uoT:jB;imn    "b    aiq^pioAB 


of 

"4m'Vi  ^^'\  pafBaouoo  eou-BssiBuay;  9n% 
Po  TijTjaxigaj  aq^  ^■eqtj  puB  'snouo:^ou 
se:;  ^-3  pjBq  sba  9nsB0  eqj  jo  .{p^q 
^^  ■''''■  8ITT  aq;  :j'Bq^  8A0Jd  o:^  saonppB 
■  .5^0Bj  ea^q  qons  jo  aoBj  aq;  ui 
S^l-j'jara^UBqoua    s:n   Suoio.id    pino.w 


•passi 

not  merely  another  means  of  realizing 
beauty  that  Jonson  adopted;  it  was  an 
other  beauty  that  he  sought.  Again 
Professor  Schelling  speaks  of  those  la 
borious  failures,  "Sejanus"  and  "Cata 
line,"  as  "splendid  examples  of  Jon 
son's  power  practically  to  apply  his  jus 
and  reasonable  classical  theories  abou 
tragedy  and  literary  art  to  current  Eng 
lish  conditions."  It  would  make  th( 
matter  plainer  to  call  these  two  play 
striking  evidence  that  Jonson  was  : 
modern  man,  that  he  had  turned  hi 
back  upon  the  ideal  beauty  and  terro 
of    Elizabethan    romanticism,    that    h 

0 

t' 

0 

;cl 


puB  uoua^jniBH  op  9hibpbi\[  sb  ^^uara 
-B.i9daia:^  ui  :^u9J9jjip  os  S9ipBi,,  'snqx 
,/9IB§niqiaBj,,  gq;  jo  asBO  9q;  ui  SB  'nop 
BzniAio  JO   sage   ;uBjsip   jbj   sa^BioossB 


qoiqAi.   ssajp  jo  mb[  aq:^   'qran^d  ^ouubo    ^^ 


re 
ha? 


ouo    iBjn^BU    OS    :jna:      •ssauiiuBaio '  aqs  ji  u9A9  'sauiAip  aqg  ,.'uozBrav  aq; 

JO  ^UBpuaosap  ^q:^  :jJos  araos  ui  si  ssaq 
-qB  iCpBi  9q^,,  ■iv^■].  sappap  snq;  puB 
'ja:)siop  B  UI  raopaaaj  aaq  punoj  sa§B 
ilJBp  aq:^  jo  Apei  oiuBra.iao  ^uggansui 
aqj  ;Bq;  saAiaojad  aqg  •i{.in:)uao  qjuaa; 
-qSi9  aq:j  jo  uo^bs  aq;  SuBJds  90U9qAi 
paas  9q:j  :^i  ui  puq  puB  'S9i.iBJOdiua:juoa 
jaq  JO  rao^sno  aq^  o%  SuipjoooB  a.x:^naD 
aq^  %12  JO  pBa:}snt  'asnoq  J9q  jo  J9U.ioo 
aq^  -^TS  :ninq  ;ai[inoqraBH  ap  aniBpBi\[ 
;Bq;  9sbojib;s  aq:t  jo  aouBogiuSis  ibioos 
aq:^  pa:j9p  ubo  gqg  qBOiSoiBUB  ao  iBn^ 
-OB  9JB  9saq:>  aaq^jaqAi.  'suo^Biaa  aiouiaj 
aiaq:j   ui    sSuiq^    Suiaas   jo    ^jiS    aAi^Bni 


gq['Bra   aq^   aoj   '^Bqj   aouBraoj   9qj 
j.ou^|i    spdsip    rasiiBaa    9uinira9j    .■^i 
"®''ABq:j  •B  puB  '^ra^q:^  araes  aq^  uo  2ui 
Pfv    ca  B  JO  :}Bq:>  q^tAi.  :fou  pinoM  51 
^ojins  jaq  jo  uoi^BioaaddB  opaq^sae 


^1)1. -d  'SJH  ^^lAi.  sajajja:>ui  ssaussai 
^°j  ,^,ouooa  aaq  jo  asuas  v  'a^iSBJEd 
^  J^f/j  q    ssirasip   o;    puB    'suoi^BJidsB 

Lq  a3Ti0ut  auiinos^ra  spayaa  Ai.iB9tD  i -SBrat  aq;  SBq  aqg  luiod  ;«aaAa  -^v  :^ua; 
*^  jUiAAi^  i?pBi  aq^i  JO  iBapi  aq:j  qiiAV  -Bd  ajB  spBj  o)  i^iniQIsuodsa.!  iBnpai 
^fi:j  aouan^drnT  Avoqs  0;  :^dB  si  'piJO.vi.  [  -la^ui  puB  SuiujBai  uaqAi  'uBiuoAi  b  jo 
ToTAoS-UBra  B  puB  apBra-uBui  b  raojj  uad  aq:^  raojj  ajBinrai^s  puB  asBaid  ubd 
J.c  aaq  jo  :>u9ra9SiqouBajua  aq:>  joj  sanilBnb  asaq;  qonui  Avoq  Sittoqs  itaaniBJ 
^AiQ  'uBiaoAi.  uaapom  aqx     •:juamnu9S  9:tB0iiap  puB   'raBjSida  'xopBJBd  jo  AB[d 


ifi. 

t 

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te 

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ha 

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1 

on 

111 

In' 


Rfimies  i7i  Spiritism.  By  Amy  E.  Tan- 
ned. New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
$2.50  net.      rioXUvx,  ^t}S:f  t  o 

Tbe  aim   of  this  book   is   to  analyze 
thoroughly  the  evidence  for  spirit  com- 
munication and  telepathy,  test  it  rigor- 
ously  and   scientifically,    and   see    whe- 
ther the  really  substantiated   facts  are 
best  accounted  for  on  a  spiritistic  or  a 
naturalistic    hypothesis.      The    book    Is 
the  outcome  of  a   long  and  systematic 
investigation  carried  on  by  Dr.  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall  and  his  special  assistant,  Dr. 
Amy   E.  Tanner.     Though  the  body  of 
the  work  is  written  by  Miss  Tanner,  the 
influence  of  Dr.  Hall  is  evident,  and  he 
concurs  in  the  conclusions  arrived    at. 
The  Introduction,  moreover,  and  one  of 
the  chapters  are  written  by  him.     It  is 
probably  advantageous  for  tiie  influence 
of  the  bo:)k  that  Dr.  Hall  did  not  write 
the  whole  of  it,  for  his  Introduction  is 
colored  by  a  sarcastic  tone  and  an  evi- 
dent animus  which  would  have  detract- 
ed considerably  from  the  scientific  value 
of  tbe  result.  In  fact,  he  says  of  himself: 
"Indeed,  it  is  an  utter  psychological  im- 
possibility for  me  to  treat  this  subject 
seriously."  Fortunately,  Miss  Tanner  is 
capable  of  treating  her  subject  seriously. 
The  outcome  of  Dr.  Tanner's  investi- 
gation is  completely  to  discredit  the  oft- 
repeated   claim  that  psychical  research 
has  demonstrated  the  survival  of  bodily 
i  death.     She  makes  thorough  work  of  it. 
'Spirit    communication,     "physical     phe- 
nomena,"     telepathy,      and       Professor 
Hyslop  are  all  weighed  in  the  balance 
and   found   wanting.     JWost   of  the   dis- 
cussion   centres,    of    course,     on     Mrs- 
Piper;    her  psj'chical   make-up  and   the 
I  character  of  her  "controls"  are  analyzed, 
'and   the   messages    which    have     come 
through   her   are    systematically    sifted. 
The   results  of  her  earlier  sittings  are 
Vnst  of  all  examined  for  their  evidential 
^3ltip.    AH  mp';<?agps  whose  content  was 
ready  known  to  the  sitter  Dr.  Tanner 
rows  out  of  consideration,  because  of 
e  possibility   (much  greater  than  one 
ght  at  first  suppose)    that  the  sitter 
'onsciously    aided     the    medium.     A 
g  and  careful  chapter  is  devoted  to 
"test  cases"    (in  which  the  content 
he   message    was    unknown    to    the 
~r),  and  the  conclusion  reached  Is  as 
Dws: 

^proximately  110  facts  in  twenty  years 
)  been  given  which  the  sitter  did  not 
.V  and  which  were  true.  But  many  of 
e  facts  are  easily  explicable  as  Infer- 
s  or  guesses,  or  are  so  vague  as  to  have 
<!  or  no  value,  while  the  few  strlliing 
cidences  are  so  few  that  It  dees  not 
1  to  bo  stretching  tolerance  IE  we  frank- 
eave  them  unexplained  or  refer  them 
nferences  or  references  in  the  sittings 
;h  were  not  considered  important 
igh  to  record, 

he  subject  of  "cross-corresponden- 
"  is  then  studied  at  greater  length, 
each  of  the  more  important  cases 
■sldered  by  itself  and  explained  as 
to  natural  causes  or  to  possible  un- 


recorded influences.  It  must  here  be 
admitted  that  Dr.  Tanner  leans  pretty 
heavily  on  the  possibility  of  a  faulty 
record;  and  also  that,  while  she  evi- 
dently tries  always  to  be  fair,  her  pre- 
sentation of  some  of  the  cases  makes 
them  appear  less  striking  than  they 
really  are.    This  is  particularly  true  of 

respondence.  A  comparison  of  Dr.  Tan- 
ner's account  with  the  original  as  given 
by  Mr.  Fiddington  (P.  S.  P.  R.,  Vol. 
XXII,  pp.  107-172)  shows  that,  through 
lack  of  space,  some  rather  suggestive 
details  have  been  omitted;  and,  more- 
over, the  naturahstic  explanation  pro- 
posed is  at  best  unconvincing. 

Dr.  Hall  and  Dr.  Tanner  had  six  sit- 
tings of  their  own  with  Mrs.  Piper,  and 
these  are  reported  at  length.  The  chief 
value  of  this  report  is  the  light  it  throws 
on  the  psychical  relationship  between 
Mrs.  Piper  and  her  controls,  and  the 
demonstration  it  gives  of  their  extreme 
suggestibility  and  the  way  they  "fish" 
for  cues  and  act  on  any  hint  given  by 
the  sitter.  Dr.  Hall  invented  several 
mythical  characters,  whereupon  "Hodg- 
son" swallowed  the  whoie  bait,  recog- 
nized every  one  suggested  whether  real 
or  purely  fictitious,  and  reported  them 
all  as  present  in  the  spirit  world.  It 
was  largely  by  this  first-hand  experience 
with  Mrs.  Piper  that  the  investigators 
were  enabled  to  work  out  in  detail  their 
explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  me- 
diumship;  which  is,  in  brief,  that  the 
controls  are  secondary  personalities  of 
the  medium,  bearing  much  the  same  re- 
lationship to  her  normal  self  that  "Sal- 
ly" in  Dr.  Prince's  case  bore  to  the  real 
Miss  Beauchamp.  The  fact  that  Mrs. 
Piper's  secondary  personalities  imper- 
sonate departed  spirits  is  to  be  account- 
ed for  by  the  suggestions  tending  in 
that  direction  given  them  by  the  sit- 
ters. "The  controls  themselves  have  thus 
teen  given  a  spiritistic  education  for 
over  twenty  years  in  all,  so  that  what- 
ever they  were  in  the  beginning,  they 
are  now  thoroughly  dyed-in-the-wool 
Spiritists."  "The  control,  like  all  im- 
pressionable and  untrained  conscious- 
nesses, tends  to  believe  that  any  vivid 
idea  is  true,  does  not  clearly  distin- 
guish between  ideas  and  reality,  and  so 
confuses  them  in  his  assertions  about 
them."  And,  in  conclusion,  Dr.  Tan- 
ner says: 

The  entire  content  of  tlie  Piper  messages 
can  be  referred  (1)  to  the  ordinary  laws  of 
the  mind  as  seen  In  apperception,  inference, 
etc.;  (2)  to  a  greatly  heightened  suggesti- 
bility; (3)  to  a  modicum  necessarily  un- 
explained  because   of   imperfect   records. 

After  finishing  spirit  communication, 
Dr.  Tanner  proceeds  to  sift  the  evidence 
for  telepathy.  And  here  it  must  be  said 
her  work  is  less  convincing.  Slie  proves, 
indeed,  concluKivcly  how  weak  is  much  of 
the  so-called  evidence  for  thought-trans- 
ference; and  her  keen  analysis  of  even 
the  best  reported  cases  shows,  as  a  rule. 


that  the  conditions  were  indecisive  or 
the  facts  themselves  uncertain.  But  a 
residuum  of  the  evidence  much  too  large 
to  be  put  down  as  mere  coincidence  re- 
mains, if  we  trust  the  records;  so  that 
recourse  must  be  had  again  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  mistakes  in  the  reports  as  we 
have  them — the  author's  ultimate  re- 
source in  all  cases  of  uncertainty.  There 
is,  no  doubt,  considerable  justification 
for  this  course,  but  it  can  be  over-done. 
It  is  rather  too  easy,  and  Miss  Tanner's 
repeated  appeal  to  it  when  in  difficulty 
constitutes,  perhaps,  the  weakest  part  of 
her  book  and  does  more  than  anything 
else  to  invalidate  her  rather  sweeping 
conclusions. 

For  certainly  the  possibility  of  tele- 
pathy and  even  of  spirit  communication 
has  not  been  disproved  by  this  book. 
Both  are  still  possible  hypotheses,  and 
subjects  of  such  enormous  human  in- 
terest should  certainly  continue  to  be 
investigated — in  spite  of  Dr.  Tanner's 
critique  and  Dr.  Hall's  sarcasm.  Still  it 
must  be  said  that  this  book  has  shown 
very  plainly  that  if  the  spiritistic  hy- 
pothesis is  possible,  there  is  as  yet  very 
little  reason  for  thinking  it  true.  And 
v/ith  the  highly  colored  presentations  of 
the  results  of  psychical  research  which 
are  read  with  such  avidity  in  our  pop- 
ular magazines,  it  is  high  time  that 
some  one  should  do  what  Dr.  Tanner  has 
done  so  admirably.  No  one,  in  fact^  who 
is  interested  in  this  question  can  afford 
not  to  read  Miss  Tanner's  work.  And 
while,  perhaps,  there  is  still  hope  lov 
the  spirit  hypothesis,  our  author  has 
succeeded  so  w'ell  in  battering  down  its 
supposed  demonstration  which  has  tak- 
en so  many  laborious  years  to  build  up, 
that  the  unlucky  spiritualists — on  both 
sides  of  the  Great  Divide — are  in  the 
pathetic  predicament  of  having  pretty 
much  ay  their  w^ork  to  do  ov*- 


STUDIES 
IN    SPIRITISM 


BY 


AMY   E.  TANNER,  Ph.D. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

G.    STANLEY    HALL,    Ph.D.,    LL.D. 


0^    THE 

UNIVERSI ! 

Of  y 

^**^  L I K  O  ft  W  •.';si^ 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1910 


STUDIES 
IN    SPIRITISM 


BY 


AMY   E.  TANNER,  Ph.D. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

G.    STANLEY    HALL,    Ph.D.,    LL.D. 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


NEW    YORK     AND     LONDON 

D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1910 


13P/04-Z 


EDUC. 

PSYCH. 

UBBABIC 


'£Al£H^:i, 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Published,  September,    1910 


PREFACE 


When  I  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  work  of  the 
Psychical  Research  Society  it  was  in  my  capacity  of  special 
assistant  to  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  in  his  investigation  of  Spir- 
itism, and  not  with  the  expectation  of  publishing  anything 
of  my  own.  But  as  the  work  progressed,  and  as  it  became 
evident  that  Dr.  Hall's  other  writings  and  duties  would 
make  it  impossible  for  him  to  publish  anything  on  this 
subject  for  some  time  to  come,  it  seemed  best  that  I  should 
take  the  work  in  hand  myself,  because  now  seems  to  be 
the  psychological  moment  to  present  the  reverse  side  of  the 
case  of  Spiritism.  Though  my  name  is  appended  to  the 
book,  and  though  I  am  responsible  alone  for  my  opinions, 
I  lie,  therefore,  under  the  greatest  obligations  to  Dr.  Hall, 
not  only  for  his  encouragement,  but  for  the  opportunity 
to  have  sittings  with  ]\Irs.  Piper,  and  for  the  unpublished 
manuscripts  of  his  which  have  been  at  my  disposal,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  extensive  citations  from  his  notes  which  ap- 
pear in  the  book,  and  of  his  Introduction. 

I  wish  also  to  express  my  sense  of  obligation  to  Mr.  G. 
B.  Dorr,  who  arranges  Mrs.  Piper's  sittings  for  her,  and 
to  Mrs.  Piper  herself  for  their  unfailing  courtesy  and  their 
desire  that  Dr.  Hall  and  I  should  have  a  free  hand  with 
the  controls.     The  fact  that  my  findings  are  unfavourable 

V 


PREFACE 

to  the  claims  of  the  controls,  and  are  at  variance  with  Mrs. 
Piper's  own  belief  and  that  of  many  of  the  members  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  only  deepens  my  apprecia- 
tion of  their  willingness  to  give  me  the  opportunity  to  make 
such  criticisms  after  a  first-hand  study  of  the  case.  How- 
ever much  I  must  criticise  the  methods  and  conclusions  of 
members  of  the  Society,  I  w^sh  to  go  on  record  as  a  hearty 
admirer  of  their  spirit  of  fair  play  and  frankness. 

A  few  words  as  to  my  own  personal  attitude  while 
making  this  study  also  seem  in  place  here  for  various  rea- 
sons. Nearly  all  of  the  published  accounts  of  the  work  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  have  tended  to  empha- 
sise the  evidence  in  favour  of  supposedly  supernormal  forces, 
and  have  largely  or  wholly  ignored  the  weaknesses  in  the 
evidence.  So  numerous  have  these  writings  become  of  late, 
and  so  influential  are  some  of  the  names  appended  to  them, 
that  through  constant  repetition  that  certain  theories  are 
true  even  well-informed  readers  are  impressed.  This  was 
certainly  the  effect  upon  me.  Before  beginning  the  present 
study  I  had  read  some  of  the  original  Proceedings,  but  far 
more  of  the  popular  accounts,  and  had  gradually  come  to 
think  that  probably  telepathy  was  true,  and  perhaps  spirit 
communication. 

I  did  not  therefore  enter  upon  my  work  with  any  spirit 
of  antagonism,  but  rather  in  a  spirit  of  doubt  that  inclined 
toward  belief.  I  was  inclined  to  think  that  I  should  finish 
the  work  a  believer  at  least  in  telepathy.  So  far  is  this 
from  being  the  case  that  the  more  I  have  read  and  seen  of 
such  experiences,  the  more  amazing  has  it  come  to  seem 
that  two  theories  like  telepathy  and  spirit  communication, 
which  are  unsupported  by  any  valid  evidence,  should  have 

vi 


PREFACE 

obtained  credence  to-day ;  and  the  more  incomprehensible 
has  it  come  to  be  that  men  should  be  willing  to  stake  their 
professional  reputations  upon  the  inaccuracies  and  rubbish 
that  pass  for  "  scientific  "  facts  in  these  matters.  It  is 
time  that  the  *'  marsh  of  feebleness,"  to  which  Professor 
James  refers,  should  become  as  well  known  to  the  general 
public  as  the  "  stream  of  veridicality  "  that  has  under- 
mined science  for  him.  A  stream  lost  in  a  marsh  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  a  flood  inundating  a  land  and  tearing 
down  all  the  old  landmarks,  and,  far  from  rising  in  the 
mountains  or  descending  from  the  clouds,  it  is  more  likely 
to  be  merely  the  drainage  of  the  lowest  part  of  the  marsh. 

Amy  E.  Tanner. 
June  23,  1910. 


CONTENTS 


PAGES 

Introduction.    By  G.  Stanley  Hall xv 

Explanation  of  Terms xxxv 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION:    SCOPE  AND  STANDPOINT  OF  THE  STUDY 

Polemical  status  of  Spiritism — Attitude  of  scientists — Of  Psychic- 
al Researchers  and  their  Committee — Their  approved  medi- 
ums— The  ideal  investigator — The  average  sitter — Attitude 
of  the  medium — Sources    of    this   study      ....     1-8 

CHAPTER  II 

MRS.  PIPER'S  DISCOVERY.  PERSONALITY,  AND   TRANCE-STATE 

Early  interviews  of  Drs.  James  and  Hodgson — Tests  of  Mrs.  Pi- 
per's honesty — Her  first  visit  to  England — Her  relations  to 
Psychical  Researchers — Compensation  for  her  sittings — Her 
belief  in  her  powers — Her  isolation — Church  relations — Type 
of  mind — Susceptibility  to  music  and  pictures — Entrance  to 
trance — Emergence  from  it — Length  of  trance — Variations 
in  pulse  and  breathing  in  trance — Condition  of  sense  organs 
— Contradictory  results  with  tests  of  hand — Relations  of  con- 
trol to  normal  Mrs.  Piper — Jung-Freud  tests      .        .        .  9-25 

CHAPTER  III 

EARLY  TRANCES  AND  TRANCE  PERSONALITIES 

Mrs.  Piper's  physical  condition — Her  first  trance — Phinuit  and 
Dr.  Cocke — Phinuit's  part  in  the  trance — George  Pelham — 
— Moses  and  the  Imperator  group — The  Hodgson  control — 
Diminishing  value  of  the  sitting.s — Characteristics  of  each 
group  of  controls — Effects  of  expectation  and  suggestion  on 
them — Appeal  to  the  test  message — Its  characteristics — 
Proof  of  personal  identity — Records  of  sittings — Their  omis- 
sions— Nonsense — Fishing — Possibilities  of  suggestion         .  26-46 

ix 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

TEST  MESSAGES 

PAGES 

Sealed-envelope  Ijests — Test  messages  in  the  Lodge  sittings — In 

HodgsonsittingsprevioustoNov.,  1891— From  1891-1897  .  47-71 

CHAPTER  V 

TEST   MESSAGES   (.Continued) 

In  Hyslop  sittings — Hyslop's  forced  interpretations — Newbold 
sittings,  with  translation  of  Greek — Sittings  with  Hodgson 
control 72-93 

CHAPTER  VI 

OPINIONS  OF  SITTERS 

Favourable  opinions:  Lodge,  Myers,  Hodgson,  Hyslop,  constant 
sitters — Intermediate:  Johnson,  the  Sidgwicks,  Verrall,  Nor- 
ton, Savage,  James,  Leaf,  Carrington,  Newbold,  etal. — Un- 
favourable: G.  H.  Darwin,  Macalister,  Weir  Mitchell,  Bald- 
win, Trowbridge,  Richet,  Lang,  Podmore,  Hall,  et  al.        .  94-100 

CHAPTER  VII 

CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES:  MRS.  HOLLAND.  MRS.  VERRALL 

The  method  and  its  originators — Two  kinds  of  references — Proof 
of  their  being  cross  references — Its  defects — Illustrations  of 
cross  references :  sealed  envelope  and  text,  cooperation,  atti- 
tude of  controls,  description  of  Mrs.  Verrall,  music  notes, 
description  of  Mrs.  Holland's  surroundings,  of  Mrs.  Verrall's 
surroundings,  Agamemnon,  Dr.  Sidgwick,  Roden  Noel, 
Marseilles  and  Virgil,  Fawcett,  Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  owl, 
references  to  Mrs.  Archdale  and  Thompson,  sphere  and 
spear,  fir  tree,  bugle  and  crown — Cross  references  with  Mrs. 
Forbes,  the  Symposium,  Harriet  de  Vim,  Hove,  et  al.     .  101-127 

CHAPTER  VIII 

CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

The  method  and  its  defects — Illustrations:  laurel  wreath,  "autos 
ouranos  akumon,"  The  Cup,  Hercules  Furens — Ear-marked 


CONTENTS 

PAGES 

references — Death — Hope,  star,  and  Browning — Summary  of 
method  and  its  defects — Verrall  sittings — Cross  correspond- 
ences between  normal  people — Time  limits — Indiscriminate 
cross  references — Evasions,  etc.,  of  control     .        .        .  128-151 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE  LATIN  MESSAGE 

Drafts  of  the  message — Giving  it  to  the  control — Its  complication 
with  cross  references,  especially  "Hope,  star,  and  Browning" 
— Mr.  Piddington's  suggestions  to  the  control — Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick's  suggestions — Final  outcome 152-165 

CHAPTER  X 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.   PIPER:    FIRST  SITTING 

Aim  and  method — Introduction  to  Mrs.  Piper — Dr.  Hall's  dis- 
cussion with  Hodgson  control  about  fictitious  niece,  Bessie — 
With  Mr.  Clark — Diagnosis  of  health — Subhminal — Com- 
ments on  sitting  by  Dr.  Hall:  Multiplication  of  personalities, 
generalities,  malapropos  references,  ease  with  which  spirits 
come,  credulity  of  control,  the  fictitious  Bessie,  the  diagnosis, 
emergence  from  trance,  interpretation  of  record      .        .  166-185 

CHAPTER  XI 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.  PIPER:    SECOND  SITTING 

Testing  the  control :  useless  tests — Accounting  for  content — Ad- 
vantage to  control  of  setting  a  problem— Sympathetic  attitude 
to  control — Relations  of  control  to  normal,  with  Jung-Freud 
tests — Content  of  second  sitting :  Jung-Freud  tests  to  control, 
the  fictitious  Borst  and  Bessie — Jung-Freud  tests  with  Mrs. 
Piper — Pulse  and  breathing  in  trance     ....  186-200 

CHAPTER  XII 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.  PIPER:    THIRD  SITTING 

Discussion  with  Mr.  Dorr:  Answers  worked  up  by  control,  use  of 
stenographer  in  sittings,  awakening  Mrs.  Piper  from  trance, 
use  of  fraud  with  controls,  making  of  appointments,  Hodg- 
son's personal  bias  toward  belief — Discussion  with  Mrs. 
Piper:    belief  in  immortality,  her  reading,  her  attitude  to- 

xi 


CONTENTS 

PAGES 

wards  controls,  her  premonitions,  dreams,  etc.,  entrance  to 
trance,  eye  and  car  mindedness,  memory  of  trance,  early 
trance  states  and  health — Content  of  sitting:  the  fictitious 
Bessie,  attempt  to  convince  Hodgson  of  being  Borst,  and  of 
knowing  about  Mrs.  Piper,  Hodgson 's  anger  at  being  de- 
ceived— Comments:  why  certain  "spirits"  appear — Train- 
ing a  "spirit"  to  beUef  in  itself        201-220 

CHAPTER  XIII 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.  PIPER:    FOURTH  SITTING 

Discussion  with  Mrs.  Piper:  Her  attitude  towards  the  trance — Its 
early  conditions — Phinuit — Her  impulsiveness — Value  of 
belief  in  sitter — Danger  if  medium  is  unbalanced — Future 
failure  of  "light" — Attempt  to  hypnotise  her — Content  of 
sitting:  Hodgson's  knowledge  of  earthly  surroundings — How 
he  summons  spirits — Uncle  Robert — Dr.  Tanner's  father — 
Relations  of  control  to  Mrs.  Piper 221-234 

CHAPTER  XIV 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.   PIPER:    FIFTH    SITTING 

Tests  of  Mrs.  Piper  in  trance:  Skin,  with  esthesiometer  and  algom- 
eter — Smell,  with  camphor  and  ether — Taste,  with  salt,  sugar, 
and  camphor — Attempts  to  persuade  control  to  make  Mrs. 
Piper  move  and  speak — Tests  of  sight  and  hearing    .         .  235-245 

CHAPTER  XV 

SITTINGS  WITH  MRS.  PIPER:    SIXTH  SITTING 

After-effects  of  previous  tests — Mrs.  Piper's  attitude — Second 
attempt  at  hypnosis — Content  of  trance:  Questioning 
Rector — Explanation  of  experiments  to  Hodgson  and  of  his 
failures  to  meet  the  tests — His  evasion     ....  246-258 

CHAPTER  XVI 

CURRENT  NOTES  BY  DR.  HALL 

Possibility  of  reducing  control  to  secondary  personality — Mrs. 
Piper's  own  sense  of  being  unusual — Depth  of  trance — 
Crudity  of  handwriting — Possible  meanings  of  script — 
Sensitiveness  of  ear — Lack  of  stenographic  records  and  possi- 

xii 


CONTENTS 

PAOEB 

bility  of  forgotten  suggestions — Amount  of  mental  activity  of 
control — Hypothesis  of  supernormal  agencies  for  unexplained 
events — Psychic  activity  between  sittings — Relation  of  sub- 
conscious to  normal  self — "Psycho-keksids"    .         .         .259-273 

CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  MEDIUM  IN  GERM  '* 

Early  surroundings — Training — First  visit  to  a  medium — Appear- 
ance of  visions — Formation  of  a  circle  of  spirit  friends — 
Mission  of  this  girl — Sittings  at  the  university — Vivid  inci- 
dents given  and  their  fixed  character — Suggestibility  in  other 
ways — Personal  motive  of  the  medium — Influence  of  the 
repressed  desire — Attainment  of  ecstasy  in  another  case — Its 
relation  to  efficiency 274-285 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  CASE  OF  MRS.  VERRALL 

First  attempts  at  automatic  writing — Sensations  while  writing — 
Aphorisms,  nonsense,  quotations  and  verse  in  writing — Sig- 
natures— Verifiable  statements — Defects  in  evidence — Pro- 
portion of  verified  to  non-evidential  statements       .         .  286-300 

CHAPTER  XIX 

THEORY  OF  THE  PIPER  CASE 

Similarity  to  secondary  personality :  Nervous  shocks  and  relation 
to  trance — Voluntary  entrance  to  trance — Suggestibility  as 
shown  in  various  groups  of  controls,  appearance,  and  charac- 
teristics— Involuntary  suggestions  from  sitters  through 
voice — Hasty  interpretations  of  messages — Mental  character- 
istics of  control  similar  to  secondary  personality — Stages  in 
development  of  secondary  personalities — Summary  of  Piper 
controls — Evidential  value  of  test  messages — Imperfect 
record — Spontaneous  images — Proportion  of  tests  to  non- 
evidential   messages 301-320 

CHAPTER  XX 

TELEPATHY  AND  ALLIED  PHENOMENA:    SPONTANEOUS  AND 
EXPERIMENTAL  THOUGHT  TRANSFERENCE 

Definition  and  inclusiveness  of  telepathy — Richet's  experiment 
in  thought-transference,  and  defects — Transference  of  num- 

xiii 


CONTENTS 

PAQKS 

bers  and  diagrams  and  defects — Hyperesthesia — Similarity  of 
thought — Self-consciousness — Card  experiments  by  Richet, 
Verrall,  and  Guthrie — Telepathy  at  a  distance — Other  card 
experiments  by  Sidgwicks  and  Miss  Johnson — Defects — Illu- 
sions of  memory  as  shown  by  Davey  and  Stern — Effect  of 
lapse  of  time — Cases  of  telepathy  recorded  within  one 
week 321-347 

CHAPTER  XXI 

TELEPATHY  AND  ALLIED  PHENOMENA:    A  CENSUS  OF 
HALLUCINATIONS 

Data  obtained — Calculus  of  probabilities — Thirty  test  cases — 
Time  elapsing  between  the  hallucination  and  the  recording  it 
— Cases  recorded  within  one  year:  collective  hallucinations — 
Haunted  houses — Summary  of  Committee's  report — Criti- 
cism of  evidence — Natural  tendency  to  believe  in  images — 
Difficulty  in  discovering  defects  in  memory — Too  great  faith 
in  narrators — Mere  numbers  not  evidential — Data  true  but 
explicable  otherwise — Difficulty  in  theory  of  thought  trans- 
ference without  sense  organs — Vaschide's  experiments  and 
conclusions  to  numerous  similarities  in  thought  between 
people       348-376 

CHAPTER  XXII 

CONCLUSION 

What  is  the  "simpler  hypothesis"? — New  interpretations  of  old 
data — Control  of  conditions  of  thought  coincident  with  loss 
of  its  mysterious  nature — Infinite  complexity  of  psychical 
and  neural  processes — Personal  desire  for  immortality 
heightened  by  limitations  of  self— Illustrated  by  Dark  Ages — 
By  Rise  of  Spiritism  in  this  country — By  personal  losses, 
failure,  illness,  etc. — Effect  of  sittings  upon  sitter — Lack 
in  modern  life  that  Spiritism  satisfies — Possible  defects  in 
Protestant  Church 377-389 

Appendix 390-405 

BlBLIOQRAPHT 406-408 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


Spiritualists  abounded  where  my  boyhood  was  passed, 
and  their  cult  had  such  fascination  for  me  that  furtively 
and  despite  parental  wishes  I  early  became  familiar  with 
table-tipping  and  levitation,  slate-writing,  inspirational 
speaking,  and  all  the  phenomena  of  seances,  and  frequented 
the  Lake  Pleasant  camp-meetings  near  by  where  this  sect 
assembled  in  large  numbers  for  weeks  every  summer. 
Later,  I  paid  for  private  sittings  with  Slade,  Foster,  and 
other  once-famous  mediums.  As  a  student  in  Germany  I 
formed  the  acquaintance  of,  and  often  conversed  with,  ZoU- 
ner,  the  great  Leipsic  astronomer,  and  heard  him  lecture 
in  the  university  on  the  physical  phenomena  of  Spiritism 
to  the  disgust  of  some  of  his  colleagues.  I  repeatedly  also 
called  on  Prof.  Theodor  Fechner  near  by,  who  was  a  mystic 
and  credulous,  holding  that  plants  and  planets  were  both 
besouled,  and  who,  in  his  old  age,  publicly  expressed  his 
belief  in  the  ghostly  origin  of  Slade 's  slate  writing.  These 
two  aged  men,  with  the  venerable  Professor  Weber,  formed 
an  academic  trio,  whose  late  conversion  to  this  creed  was 
the  theme  of  much  discussion  by  their  associates,  who 
deemed  it  an  academic  scandal.  Later,  at  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  in  the  wave  of  interest  started  by  the  Sey- 
bert  Commission  and  the  English  Psychic  Research  Society, 
with  the  late  President  Oilman  and  my  colleague,  Simon 
Newcomb,  I  visited  every  medium  who  advertised  in  Phil- 
adelphia, and  later,  when  Dr.  Oilman  had  withdrawn.  Pro- 
fessor Newcomb  and  I  made  similar  rounds  in  New  York. 

XV 


INTRODUCTION 

I  alone  persisted  and  visited  also  those  in  Boston.  The  first 
fifteen  years  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  English  Society  I 
reviewed  at  length  in  my  journal.  I  mention  these  personal 
experiences  to  show  that  spiritistic  phenomena  are  not  new 
to  me,  and  also  that  my  interest  was  serious  enough  to 
prompt  all  this  pains  which,  had  I  been  fully  convinced 
either  way,  I  should  never  have  had  interest  enough  to  take. 
I  have  also,  as  years  went  by,  passed  through  every  stage 
from  pretty  complete  boyish  credulity  to  no  less  prepon- 
derating adult  disbelief.  As  a  youth  I  argued  for,  and  in 
maturity  against,  spiritistic  claims,  until  I  have  long  felt 
a  strange  combination  of  aversion  from  and  attraction  to 
all  the  works  and  ways  of  believers.  The  attraction  is  en- 
tirely due  to  the  conviction  that  there  is  something  here 
of  great  moment  that  psychology  has  not  yet  fathomed, 
and  the  revulsion  is  toward  the  recrudescence  in  this  cult  of 
a  savage  superstition  which  belongs  more  to  the  troglodyte 
age  than  to  our  own.  Seriously  to  investigate  the  problem 
whether  discarnate  ghosts  can  suspend  any  of  the  laws  of 
matter  seems  to  me  not  only  bad  form  for  any  and  every 
scientific  man,  but  an  indication  of  a  strange  psychic  rudi- 
ment in  their  makeup  that  ought  to  be  outgrown  like  the 
prenatal  tail  or  the  gill  slits.  There  is  in  my  opinion  not 
even  a  prima  facie  case  for  supermundane  intervention  of 
this  sort,  but  always  only  an  interesting  constellation  of 
psychic  complexes.  The  difference  between  the  method  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Psychic  Researchers,  whose  work  is  moti- 
vated by  a  desire  to  determine  whether  souls  exist  inde- 
pendently of  the  body  and  act  upon  or  can  control  it,  and 
the  attitude  of  science  is  identical  with  the  difference  be- 
tween those  who  study  dreams  to  see  whether  they  come 
true  and  those  who  study  them  as  physiologists,  psycholo- 
gists and  the  Freudians  do — to  learn  their  mechanism  and 
their  real  cause  and  meaning.  "With  this  attitude  I  refused, 
not  without  some  resentment,  an  invitation  to  assist  at  the 
late   Palladino  seances  in   New  York,  because  she  made 

xvi 


INTRODUCTION 

all  the  essential  conditions  instead  of  allowing  the  investi- 
gators to  do  so,  and  this,  to  my  mind,  was  sufficient  to  jus- 
tify the  presumption  that  she  was  fraudulent.  Moreover,  I 
have  purchased  ^considerable  sleight-of-hand  apparatus  and 
bought  a  small  kit  of  tricks,  taken  lessons  of  Yost,  Her- 
mann, and  others,  and  given  various  amateur  performances 
in  my  own  house,  and  despite  the  fact  that  I  always  tell 
in  the  end  how  everything  is  done  I  have  been  repeatedly 
acclaimed  as  a  medium  myself  by  believers.  One  American 
member  of,  and  literary  contributor  to,  the  English  Psychic 
Research  Society  for  whom  I  did  the  slate-writing  trick  in 
two  ways,  explaining  afterward  both  the  flap  and  the  in- 
visible ink  (brought  out  by  hydrochloric-acid  gas  injected 
through  a  hypodermic  needle  from  a  flesh-coloured  capsule 
that  was  palmed),  told  me  frankly  that  he  thought  I  really 
did  it  all  with  the  aid  of  spirits,  but  that  I  deemed  it  more 
becoming  a  professor  to  give  a  difficult  scientific  explanation 
than  to  acknowledge  the  easier  help  of  spirits.  Believers  in 
material  phenomena  are  in  my  experience  usually  simple- 
minded,  honest,  and  ultra  gullible,  while  most  mediums  in 
this  field  seem  to  me  clever  charlatans  of  a  vulgar  and  often 
avaricious  type,  and  perhaps  with  a  morbid  passion  for 
deception.  In  my  view,  they  are  almost  all  not  only  dis- 
honest from  the  start,  but  the  real  explanation  of  their  suc- 
cess is  to  be  chiefly  found  in  the  abnormal  development  of 
an  inveterate  inborn  propensity  to  lie  and  mislead,  which 
gives  them  a  titillating  sense  of  superiority  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  the  overpowering  will  to  believe  on  the 
part  of  the  faithful  who  accept  any  suggestion  and  balk  at 
no  absurdity. 

Credence  in  any  of  these  phenomena  by  cultivated  aca- 
demic minds,  or  even  the  admission  that  there  is  an  open 
question,  presents  another  difficult  problem.  Their  attitude 
I  believe  due  partly  to  a  dualistic  philosophy  that  assumes 
two  different  world-orders,  and  holds  that  the  one  may  in- 
terfere at  certain  points  with  the  other,  and  partly  to  an 
a  xvii 


INTRODUCTION 

inveterate  lust  for  evidence  of  the  independent  post-mortem 
existence  of  souLs.  The  third  factor  in  their  case  is  found 
in  the  utter  inadequacy  of  current  psychology  in  dealing 
with  the  unconscious,  and  a  gross  underestimation  of  its 
range  and  scope  in  all  our  daily  lives.  Mind,  to  it,  is  con- 
sciousness, and  every  eruption  from  the  unconscious  it  re- 
gards as  of  ghostly  origin,  because  it  lacks  all  conception  of 
the  intricacy  and  complexity  of  the  subliminal  psychic 
processes  of  which  introspection  gives  no  glimmer  or  ink- 
ling. These  false  teachings  together  have  caused  endless 
futile  labour,  and  have  misled  many  ingenuous  souls  be- 
cause the  problems  they  suggest  are  surds. 

With  Mrs.  Piper  and  the  psychic  phenomena  of  Spir- 
itism the  case  is  very  different.  She  is  without  question 
the  most  eminent  American  medium  in  this  field.  For  years 
she  has  been  the  more  or  less  private  oracle  of  one  of  our 
leading  and  very  influential  psychologists.  She  has  been  in- 
vestigated for  a  quarter  of  a  century  by  many  of  the  keenest 
men  of  science  in  England  and  here,  and  never  convicted  of 
fraud,  and  her  sittings  have  been  reported  and  discussed 
by  scores  if  not  hundreds  of  writers.  She  is  a  modest,  ma- 
tronly woman,  shunning  newspaper  curiosity,  quietly  sup- 
porting her  daughters  by  the  twenty  dollars  she  receives 
per  seance,  and  the  majority  of  her  clients  are  sincere  be- 
lievers who  wish  information  beyond  their  reach.  I  once 
visited  her  more  than  twenty  years  ago  with  Professor 
James  and  was  mystified,  and  several  times  afterward  wrote 
Hodgson,  who  kept  her  dates,  asking  for  sessions,  only  to 
be  told  that  all  her  available  time  and  strength  were  monop- 
olised by  the  Psychic  Researchers,  and  that  a  man  of  un- 
certain purposes  outside  their  circle  might  mar  the  quality 
of  her  work.  It  was  therefore  with  much  satisfaction  that 
on  writing  Mr.  George  Dorr,  who  is  in  a  sense  her  manager, 
I  was  given  three  sessions,  for  which  I  paid,  and  three  more 
at  his  expense,  while  at  the  latter  Dr.  Tanner  and  myself 
were  left  alone  with  the  medium.    Mr.  Dorr's  kindness  and 

xviii 


INTRODUCTION 

candor  deserve  our  hearty  thanks.  Of  the  details  of  each 
of  our  six  sessions  this  volume  contains  a  full  account.  The 
author  and  myself  reached  conclusions  that  are  in  substan- 
tial agreement.  For  one,  I  am  satisfied  and  shall  probably 
never  want  more  sittings. 

Mrs.  Piper  in  her  trances  seems  to  sleep  profoundly 
with  deep,  slow,  stertorous  breathing,  and  she  takes  less 
time  to  go  to  sleep  than  to  waken,  reversing  thus  the  order 
of  slow  to  sleep  and  quick  to  wake.  This  impresses  the  sit- 
ter that  she  is  almost  as  much  out  of  the  game  in  this  state 
as  if  she  were  dead.  Hence,  no  one  feels  in  danger  of 
disturbing  slumbers  so  profound,  and  sitters  can  move  about 
and  converse  freely,  at  least  in  low  tones.  We  were  not 
only  assured  that  we  could,  but  abnost  invited  to  do  so,  at 
least  by  Mr.  Dorr.  This  we  soon  came  to  do  naturally,  first 
whispering  and  then  speaking,  so  that  we  sitters  felt  that 
we  were  alone  with  Hodgson's  spirit.  The  latter  was  usu- 
ally reached  by  taking  Mrs.  Piper's  hand,  placing  the 
palm  close  to  the  mouth  and  speaking  loudly,  and  I  was 
often  asked  to  repeat  as  if  I  were  on  a  long-distance  tele- 
phone. Her  writing  hand  is  thiLS  also  at  the  same  time  the 
ear  of  her  control,  and  its  threshold  is  high  and  kept  so. 
Meanwhile,  her  ear  is  awake  and  alert.  On  this  the  record 
gives  abundant  evidence,  and  our  observations  in  the  record 
made  this  yet  more  certain.  If  her  hand  actually  hears,  we 
have  at  the  outset  an  astounding  miracle.  No  deaf  person 
ever  developed  such  a  manual  function.  Not  only  does  her 
ear  receive  all  the  messages  shouted  into  the  hand,  but  it  is 
keenly  aware  of  everything  audible.  The  noises  on  the 
streets,  the  rustle  of  clothing,  the  sitter's  position,  and  every 
noise  or  motion,  and  our  conversation,  too,  was  often  reacted 
to.  Here  then  is  a  wide  and  copious  margin  in  which  sug- 
gestion can  work.  Never  in  our  own  or  in  other  Piper  sit- 
tings was  any  full  record  kept  of  what  her  interlocutors 
said.  Still  less  have  involuntary  exclamations,  inflections, 
stresses,  etc.,  been  noted,  and  even  the  full  and  exact  form 

xix 


INTRODUCTION 

of  questions  is  rarely,  if  ever,  kept,  while  the  presence  of  a 
stenographer  which  we  proposed  was  objected  to.  Thus, 
unlimited  suggestions  are  unconsciously  ever  being  given 
off  to  be  caught  and  given  back  or  reacted  to  in  surprising 
ways.  If  this  method  be  a  conscious  invention  on  her  part 
it  shows  great  cleverness  and  originality,  and  if  it  be  a 
method  unconsciously  drifted  into,  its  great  effectiveness 
could  in  fact  be  scientifically  evaluated  only  by  pro- 
longed experiments  in  which  a  normal  person  should  simu- 
late her  very  peculiar  kind  of  sleep.  In  fact,  it  often 
seemed  that  only  her  eyes  were  out  of  the  game,  and  all 
her  mental  and  emotional  powers  were  very  wide  awake.  A 
little  practice  convinced  me  that  it  is  not  hard  to  feign  all 
this,  and  yet  I  am  by  no  means  convinced  that  she  acted  her 
sleep-dream,  although  that  this  could  be  done  with  a  success 
quite  equal  to  her  own  I  have  no  shadow  of  doubt.  If  this 
is  the  case  she  is,  of  course,  fraudulent,  but  if  some  of  her 
faculties  are  really  sleeping  it  is  a  unique  and  interesting 
case  of  somno-scripticism  as  her  former  practice  of  speak- 
ing instead  of  writing  was  of  somno-verbalism,  for  both  are 
species  of  the  same  genus  of  somnambulism.  That  Mrs. 
Piper-Hodgson 's  soul  is  awake  and  normal,  our  last  sittings 
gave  abundant  evidence  when  she  seemed  to  quite  fall  out 
of  the  Hodgson  role  and  became  angry.  That  the  self-same 
hand/that  slapped  me  on  the  back,  as  it  was  assumed  Hodg- 
son might  have  done,  pounded  the  table,  wielded  the  pencil, 
arranged  the  paper  as  Hodgson's  hand,  and  then  clutched 
his  sweater  and  necktie,  as  Mrs.  Piper's  hand  (as  I  think 
we  must  infer) ,  in  order  to  reinforce  her  own  waning  pow- 
ers (although  this  may  be  open  to  another  interpretation), 
was  found  to  be  insensitive  to  partial  pain  is  not  so  strange, 
since  analgesia  is  often  isolated  in  disease  from  other  dermal 
sensations ;  but  that  the  hand  discriminated  compass  points 
so  faintly  implies  a  rare  type  of  dissociation. 

Again,  writing  was  an  improvement  upon  her  former 
oral  mode  of  utterance  in  the  interests  of  ambiguity,  for 

XX 


INTRODUCTION 

not  a  few  words  and  phrases  were  illegible  and  admit  of 
several  interpretations,  for  the  Hodgson  chirography  is  ex- 
ecrable and  often  entirely  illegible  and  in  general  hard  to 
make  out  after  it  has  been  cooled  by  even  a  short  lapse  of 
time. 

As  to  the  identity  of  Hodgson,  the  so-called  control,  he 
surely  was  not  all  there,  and  what  was  present  of  him,  if 
anything,  was  not  only  fragmentary  but  incredibly  stupid, 
oblivious,  and  changed.  Although  I  never  met  him  in  the 
flesh,  yet  in  these  sessions  he  always  addressed  me  in  the 
most  familiar  manner,  had  many  totally  false  memories  of 
former  interviews  with  me  and  of  discussions  which  never 
took  place,  and  in  a  word  seemed  to  feel  just  as  intimate 
with  me  as  Mrs.  Piper  in  her  normal  state  thought  he  used 
to.  He  recollected  also  everything  that  I  pretended  had 
passed  between  us.  Had  I  really  known  him  and  he  had 
forgotten  or  cut  me  that  might  have  been  explained,  though 
perhaps  at  some  sacrifice  of  my  amour  propre,  but  this 
false  recognition  and  spirit  of  camaraderie  throughout  was 
baffling.  Pei-haps  when  living  he  meant  to  have  made  my 
acquaintance,  and  as  a  ghost  mistook  the  will  for  the  deed. 
Had  I  been  very  great  and  powerful,  and  he  foolishly  vain 
and  false,  he  might  have  pretended  to  have  been  honoured 
by  my  acquaintance  in  order  to  show  off  before  Mrs.  Piper, 
but  this  hypothesis  is  seamy,  for  she  Avas  sleeping  and  did 
not  know  and  could  not  remember,  and  he  must  have  known 
that  she  could  not  be  impressed.  It  may  be  that  he  hu- 
moured me  in  my  deceit  to  see  how  far  I  would  go,  and 
let  me  fill  full  the  measure  of  my  turpitude  of  ruse  and 
deception,  but  if  so,  why  the  flaming  anger  when  I  confessed 
my  strategy?  Again,  he  may  have  mistaken  me  for  some 
one  else,  although  it  must  have  been  some  other  enough  like 
me  to  be  almost  my  double,  and  I  can  think  of  no  one  who 
would  fill  this  role.  Or  it  may  be  he  has  somehow  been  in- 
timate with  me  since  his  death,  although  without  my  knowl- 
edge, and  only  blundered  in  dating  his  acquaintance  before 


INTRODUCTION 

instead  of  after  his  translation,  and  in  assuming  that  be- 
cause he  knew  me  I  must  know  him.  It  may  be  that  spir- 
its think  in  genera,  and  because  I  was  a  psychologist  and 
he  knew  so  many  others  of  my  trade  he  assumed  that  he 
must  have  known  me,  and  accepted  my  suggestion  that  he 
had  done  so  because  he  could  not  remember  all  his  psycho- 
logical acquaintances  for  sure.  Or,  perhaps,  as  people  long 
and  far  absent  greet  neighbours  they  only  knew  of  as  if  they 
were  personal  friends  I,  being  the  first  he  met  after  making 
his  earthly  landfall,  seemed  near  by  contrast  with  the  vast 
distance  that  yawned  between  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting  room 
and  his  celestial  environment. 

On  the  other  hand  his  memory  was  full  of  gaps.  He 
had  forgotten  the  private  drawing  medium  who  once  vis- 
ited me  and  wanted  to  be  investigated,  but  whom  I  had  sent 
with  a  note  to  Hodgson,  who  printed  his  weird  pictures  and 
concerning  whom  we  had  some  correspondence.  Again,  the 
Watseka  wonder,  to  the  study  of  whom  he  once  gave  much 
time  and  energy  the  results  of  which  he  printed,  he  could 
barely  recall.  All  our  other  questions  concerning,  or  allu- 
sions to,  his  past  life  were  answered  only  in  platitudes  or 
evaded.  Would  Hodgson,  if  living,  have  accepted  such  a 
tatterdemalion  ghost  of  himself,  and  would  he  not  have  pre- 
ferred death  to  such  a  pitiful  prolongation  of  his  person- 
ality? Indeed,  is  it  not  a  most  plausible  hypothesis  that 
his  soul  is  now  in  process  of  dissolution,  and  has  already 
reached  an  advanced  stage  of  senile  decrepitude,  not  to 
say  dementia?  There  are  now  several  eminent  religious 
writers  who  practically  accept  the  view  long  ago  expressed 
in  Plato 's  ' '  Phaedo  ' '  that  the  soul  survives  after  death  only 
for  a  period,  and  is  slowly  blown  away  or  dissolved,  and  so 
perhaps  Hodgson  is  far  advanced  toward  a  second  death. 
If  so,  is  it  not  cruelty  to  spirits  to  drag  him  back  to  make 
such  a  pitiful  exhibition  of  his  last  stages?  But  against 
this  hypothesis  stands  his  affectation  of  cheeriness  that  sug- 
gests the  effervescence  of  healthful  animal  spirits  and  his 

xxii 


INTRODUCTION 

apparent  willingness  to  be  recalled  from  his  bourne.  This 
combination  of  failing  powers  with  euphoria  is  rare,  save 
in  general  paresis,  and  the  Hodgson  ghost  in  many  re- 
spects rather  well  fits  this  paradigm. 

Now,  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  such  an  infirm  ghost 
could  not  be  bluffed  out  of  existence  or  be  made  to  confess 
himself  some  one  else,  as  we  are  convinced  thait  this  sec- 
ondary personality  or  control  could  have  been  had  we  per- 
sisted. But  I  am  not  clear  whether  we  have  a  right  to 
put  ever  so  doddering  ghosts  out  of  existence,  especially 
if  they  are  profitable  to  those  who  harbour  them.  He  surely 
cut  a  sorry  figure  with  us.  He  accepted  each  of  the  ficti- 
tious personages  we  invented.  The  figments  of  our  fancy 
were  quite  as  real  for  him  as  his  own  friends  or  historic 
personages,  showing  that  he  had  no  criterion  for  distin- 
guishing imagination  from  facts,  but  accepted  every  sug- 
gestion as  true.  He  could  thus  be  fooled  and  imposed  upon 
to  the  very  top  of  our  bent.  His  naive  gullibility  and  utter 
absence  of  critical  discrimination  were  tempting.  Thus  we 
enjoyed  some  of  the  grim  satisfaction  of  revenge  upon  the 
spirit  world,  the  denizens  of  which  have  from  time  im- 
memorial fooled  and  misled  the  sons  of  men,  and  it  was 
hard  not  to  yield  still  further  to  the  temptation  to  feed 
fat  this  ancient  grudge.  But  let  us  be  wary,  for  perhaps 
all  this  is  the  spirits'  noblesse  ohligc.  We  are  not  well 
informed  as  to  the  standards  of  etiquette  or  deportment 
in  the  other  world.  Its  people  seem  to  us  courteous,  and 
accept  our  every  whim  because  they  wish  to  set  us  an  ex- 
ample of  the  unadulterated  credulity  which  they  ask  us 
to  extend  to  them  in  turn.  They  are  not  critical  toward  us 
because  they  do  not  wish  us  to  be  so  toward  them.  If  this 
is  the  good  manners  of  celestial  courts,  how  boorish  and 
outlandish  our  prying  scepticism  must  have  seemed ! 

But  there  are  other  hypotheses.  Perhaps  Mrs.  Piper 
herself  made  in  her  own  soul,  by  a  process  which  we  do 
not  yet  quite  imderstand,  a  mould  in  which  the  control  was 

xxiii 


INTRODUCTION 

cast,  and  Hodgson  had  to  fit  himself  into  this  as  best  he 
could,  though  the  process  involved  much  distortion  and 
the  amputation  of  various  memories  and  traits  so  that  he 
was,  as  it  were,  dismembered.  The  soul  stuff  that  composed 
the  control  was  the  ipsissimal  self  of  Hodgson,  but  its  form 
was  changed  as  the  metal  of  a  cannon  might  be  recast  into 
a  sewer  pipe  and  drain  a  swamp  instead  of  sink  a  ship. 
If  so,  we  shrewdly  opine  that  the  mould  was  cracked  and 
too  small,  as  well  as  distorted,  and  that  we  were  dealing 
with  only  a  transmuted  fragment  of  Hodgson's  ghost.  If  so, 
where  is  the  remainder  of  it  1  Once  more  it  is  possible  that, 
unknown  to  others,  Hodgson  during  life  had  begun  to  de- 
velop a  partrtioned-off  secondary  personality,  and  that  this 
parasitic  rather  than  his  true  self  was  what  we  held  con- 
verse with.  This  theory  is  particularly  astute  and  subtle, 
and  could  probably  be  made  to  harmonise  with  all  the 
facts  of  the  case  more  completely  than  any  other  that  the 
wit  of  man  can  just  at  present  devise.  May  I  not  com- 
mend this  hypothesis  to  Dr.  Hyslop  as  worthy  of  his  apol- 
ogetics ? 

The  chief  successive  Piper  controls  then  certainly  have 
a  family  resemblance,  for  they  are  children  born  of  the 
same  mental  womb.  Our  fictitious  Borst  in  our  humble 
judgment  was  rather  a  masterpiece,  for  he  was  at  least 
meant  to  be  a  composite  portrait  of  all  the  summative  series 
of  her  familiar  spirits,  the  totalisation  or  the  psycho- 
genetic  or  logical  next  step  in  the  evolution  of  her  medium- 
ship  should  she  wish  to  evict  Hodgson  and  adopt  a  successor 
under  any  name  after  finding  his  like  somewhere  in  his- 
tory. This  would  maximise  her  mediumistic  powers  and 
sustain  and  prolong  their  now  waning  vigour.  This  would 
be  our  psychotherapeutic  prescription,  provided  she  desires 
to  continue  double  housekeeping.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
half  suspect  that  in  her  heart  of  hearts  she  would  fain  be 
done  with  it  all,  at  least  if  she  could  afford  it,  and  settle 
together  into  her  own  coherent,  symmetrical,  comfortable, 

xxiv 


INTRODUCTION 

well-equipped  and  pleasing  wholesome  self.  Surely  it  can- 
not make  for  her  mental  poise  or  peace  to  carry  within  her 
soul  the  permanent  passibility  of  such  an  alien,  persistent, 
and  unattractive  personality.  Would  that  she  would  give 
the  world  her  own  utterly  candid  hiograpkie  intime  or  a 
confession  of  her  honest  womanly  reactions  to  all  this  busi- 
ness !  For  one,  I  must  believe  that  she  could,  if  she  would, 
shed  more  true  light  upon  her  case  than  has  been  done 
by  all  who  have  so  far  studied  her.  That  would  indeed  be 
the  ideal  consummation  of  her  remarkable  career,  and  to 
that  I  would  most  earnestly  exhort  her  in  the  interests  of 
her  own  mental  health  and  her  repute,  her  prolonged  mental 
vigour,  her  helpfulness  to  the  world,  and  even  her  finances. 
Her  soul  has  suffered  these  many  years  from  some  shock, 
or  a  series  of  them,  the  nature  of  which  we  can  somewhat 
conjecture,  and  it  was  partly  riven  in  twain.  There  are 
cases  on  record  where  this  has  occurred  in  adolescence,  and 
the  patients  have  been  healed  during  senescence.  Every- 
thing we  know  of  the  psychology  of  old  age  indicates  that 
it  is  favourable  to  such  re-fusions  and  conversely,  that  they 
are  favourable  to  it. 

I  venture  the  above  homely  counsel  not  only  be- 
cause all  her  sitters  do  and  must  bear  her  only  good  will, 
for  she,  unlike  all  other  putative  communicators  with  the 
spirits  of  our  dear  departed,  makes  no  conditions,  but 
allows  investigators  every  practicable  freedom.  I  do  so 
also  because  of  the  personal  regret  I  should  feel  if  this  book 
detracted  in  any  way  from  her  great  merit  or  repute.  In- 
deed, we  would  say  to  all  who  must  at  times  consult  the  spir- 
its— go  to  hers,  far  better  though  we  think  it  would  be  to  let 
them  all  alone.  Again,  all  her  controls  have  been  men,  and 
mostly  of  the  bluff,  hearty  type  that  would  naturally  at- 
tract and  be  attracted  by  such  a  woman.  That  men  and, 
still  better,  women  often  evolve,  more  or  less  unconsciously, 
ideals  of  the  other  sex  that  are  in  varying  degrees  counter- 
parts of  themselves  is  no  longer  questioned.     These  ideals, 

XXV 


INTRODUCTION 

while  perseverating  all  the  way  from  adolescence  to  senes- 
cence, maintain  the  same  general  type,  but  are  attracted 
and  modified  by  real  acquaintances  in  direct  proportion  as 
they  approximate  them,  and  true  affinity  in  its  real  psycho- 
logical sense  is  correspondence  with  these  veiled  figures. 
Some  who  think  psychotherapy  is  in  part  a  love  cure  in 
the  sense  that  the  woman  patient  must  have  at  least  a  pla- 
tonic  affection  for  her  physician  in  order  to  be  polarised 
back  to  health,  and  is  prone  to  take  refuge  in  illness  again 
if  he  goes  out  of  her  life,  have  made,  we  must  admit,  rather 
hazy  but  extremely  stimulating  suggestions  here.  Here,  too, 
belongs  for  men  the  whole  psychology  of  Madonna  ideals. 
A  mild  neuropathic  female  medium  may,  and  in  recorded 
cases  does,  in  groping  toward  self-cure,  sometimes  take 
refuge  in  ideals  of  complemental  manhood,  and  come  to  find 
self-help  in  occasionally  giving  them  their  innings  in  her 
heart  and  soul.  Thus  she  gets  out  of  herself.  This  is  a 
sound  instinct  for  psychopaths,  who  are  often  exagger- 
atedly selfish,  with  consequent  progressive  involution. 
That  the  partner  in  this  reveried  companionship  should  oc- 
cupy a  subconscious  chamber  of  the  soul,  retired  to  upon 
occasion,  is  also  as  natural  and  as  explicable  as  are  the 
imaginary  companions  of  those  children  who  feel  social 
needs  that  their  environment  does  not  satisfy.  On  this  view 
the  series  of  Piper  controls  from  Phinuit  to  Hodgson  first, 
and  in  their  stages  of  psychic  incipiency,  gratified  the  me- 
dium chiefly,  and  fascinated  even  when  she  affected  dislike 
to  them.  Each  was  an  ideally  fulfilled  dream-wish,  and 
became  fully  impersonated  in  order  to  transform  the  mono- 
logue of  her  thought  currents  into  dialogue,  and  only  later, 
after  she  came  to  yield  to  her  creation  with  abandon,  did 
the  control  acquire  independence  and  autonomy  enough  to 
subordinate  and  then  evict  her  own  normal  self.  The  two 
souls  came  thus  to  alternate  instead  of  being  simultaneous 
voices.  Only  after  this  incubation  was  ended,  and  the 
nascent  personality  was  fully  hatched,  fledged,  and  ma- 

xxvi 


INTRODUCTION 

tured,  after  possession  had  supervened  and  soliloquy  had 
passed  through  colloquy  to  depersonalisation  and  suppres- 
sion of  the  parent  soul,  did  the  control  furnish  the  auto- 
matic deliverances  that  seemed  weird  enough  to  conjure 
with  and  to  work  the  charm  of  an  alien  spirit.  That  sex 
reciprocity  played  its  mighty  role  in  the  genesis  of  this 
case  there  can  to  my  thought  be  little  doubt,  although  the 
precise  mechanism  of  the  process  cannot  be  detailed,  for 
lack  of  data  as  to  its  historic  genesis.  That  this  also  played 
a  major  part  in  the  first  case  reported  in  Chapter  XVII, 
of  which  I  also  was  cognisant,  I  at  least  am  convinced.  In 
the  sublimation  and  long-circuiting  processes  of  sex,  which 
are  no  longer  recognised  as  such,  love  works  its  strangest 
miracles.  But  if  the  Freudian  contention  be  correct  there 
is  absolutely  no  rupture  of  connection  anywhere  possible 
in  our  psychic  life,  no  confusion  even  in  the  gibberings  of 
mania,  no  chaos,  but  every  wildest,  maddest  delirium  is 
completely  explicable.  Surely  this  simpler  case  is  no  excep- 
tion, and  we  lack  only  knowledge  of  psychic  conditions  and 
changes  to  see  law  and  order  where  once  chance  was  thought 
to  reign.  To  invoke  the  aid  of  spirits  to  explain  such  cases 
is  itself  insanity  on  our  part,  so  that  the  Piper  cult  itself 
only  awaits  an  explanation  which  will,  if  all  present  signs 
fail  not,  be  complete  sooner  than  most  now  dream. 

But  what  of  the  content  of  these  messages  ?  This  is  the 
chief  point  with  most  of  her  defenders.  Perhaps  our  sit- 
tings contain  as  much  material  for  supernatural  findings 
as  she  ever  gave,  possibly  more.  Her  hand  often  injected 
isolated  words,  phrases,  and  names,  but  in  our  case  noth- 
ing seemed  to  fit  or  be  apposite  enough  to  anything  in  our 
experience  to  interest  us  or  to  allure  us  on  to  the  reciproc- 
ity of  further  question  and  answer,  in  which  believers  usu- 
ally find  their  faith  reinforced.  Search  as  we  would  they 
singly  seemed  to  pass  us  by,  and  were  palpable  misses.  I 
knew,  for  instance,  several  Helens,  living  and  dead,  but 
never  had  any  special  interest  in  or  close  acquaintance  with 

xxvii 


INTRODUCTION 

any  of  them,  which  perhaps  was  rather  singular  consider- 
ing the  frequency  of  this  name.  I  had  known  two  Wolcotts, 
but  had  met  both  only  once.  I  have  known  several  Bessies, 
but  only  as  I  have  known  hundreds  of  others,  and  so  of 
nearly  all  the  rest.  On  the  other  hand,  these  injections 
seem  palpable  fishing.  Very  likely  it  seemed  monstrous  to 
the  ghost  that  when  he  mentioned  my  father,  ever  so  flit- 
tingly,  I  did  not  rush  in  more  promptly  with  attempts  to 
actually  get  into  communication  with  his  spirit  as  it  seemed 
to  flit  so  near.  We  all  have  fathers,  but  somehow  it  seemed 
vulgar  to  me  to  hold  the  intercourse  which  I  should  love  to 
with  my  father's  spirit  in  such  a  way  as  this.  Again,  I  had 
a  brother  Robert,  a  Cambridge  clergyman,  who  died  years 
ago,  and  this  name  appeared.  Perhaps  this  was  the  nearest 
to  a  hit,  but  it  is  not  an  uncommon  name  and  many  Boston 
people  remember  and  still  others  have  heard  of  him.  Per- 
haps I  have  an  instinctive  dread  of  being  disillusionised,  or 
feel  undue  shyness  and  coyness  toward  the  ghosts,  but  I 
vow  it  is  not,  as  the  control  seemed  to  indicate  in  the  only 
two  or  three  lines  we  suppressed,  because  I  was  hard 
hearted,  lacking  in  affection,  and  quickly  forgetful  of  my^ 
departed  friends.  This  insinuation  I  interpret  as  the  cumu- 
lative resentment  at  my  persistent  failure  to  follow  the  in- 
jected fishing  invitations  and  to  indulge  in  conversation 
with  the  suggested  spirits  through  this  medium,  nor  do  I 
think  I  owe  them  any  apology.  Dear  ghosts  of  my  relatives, 
I  did  not  mean  to  slight  you,  and  pray  accept  my  apologies 
and  my  profound  regrets  if  you  really  were  trying  to  ring 
me  up. 

But  indeed  it  is  an  utter  psychological  impossibility  for 
me  to  treat  this  subject  seriously.  If  a  critic  insists  that 
we  should  have  followed  all  of  these  weird  beckonings  till 
we  struck  some  true  trail,  that  we  must  relax  and  be  utterly 
passive  and  follow  the  suggestions  of  the  numen,  I  can  only 
say  that  the  bait  did  not  attract.  We  might  have  faltered, 
dickered,  and  skirmished  with  the  control  along  the  lines 

xxviii 


INTRODUCTION 

suggested  by  the  names,  and  carried  on  a  ghostly  flirtation 
with  these  hovering,  beckoning  personalities,  and  then 
laboriously  matched  up  their  phrases  with  facts  from  our 
lives ;  but  is  this  the  way  to  proceed  ?  Why  are  our  friends 
on  the  yonder  shore  -so  coy  and  wispy  ?  They  were  not  so 
in  life.  If  my  father  really  got  within  range,  why  did  he 
vanish  so  immediately  ?  Was  it  not  really  "  up  to  him  ' '  to 
make  the  first  advances  ?  I  was  there,  waiting  and  listening. 
Was  he  offended  that  I  did  not  drop  every  other  purpose 
and  follow  him  and  cry  out  and  entreat  him  to  give  me 
some  infallible  tests,  or  at  least  a  private  sign?  He  was  not 
thus  in  life,  nor  was  my  brother.  Perhaps  I  partly  feared 
the  twaddle  messages  I  had  often  received  through  other 
mediums.  I  wish  to  remember  both  in  the  relations  of  the 
same  respect  and  culture  I  bore  them  when  living,  and  I 
would  not  have  them  appear  now  as  ninnies.  Their  flitting 
nod  or  beck  and  their  precipitate  retreat  was  as  if  all  their 
love  for  me  had  been  distilled  out  of  their  lives  in  the 
cerulean  blue,  and  that  would  have  been  disheartening.  A 
drop  of  human  blood  is  better  than  a  tide  of  celestial  ichor. 
I  should  have  felt  that  they  were  constrained  and  held 
against  their  will.  I  would  not  have  the  memories  I  cher- 
ish of  them  polluted,  and  should  have  surely  felt  that  they 
were  pitiably  weakened  wrecks  of  their  former  selves.  It 
would  really  have  been  but  a  battle  of  wits  between  me  and 
the  control  to  see  if  the  latter  could  snatch  up  suggestions 
involuntarily  and  unconsciously  emitted  by  me.  I  should 
have  felt  myself  a  \'ictim,  prostituted  by  my  lust  for  knowl- 
edge of  their  survival  and  their  perdurable  identity.  The 
medium  was  so  dim  and  muddy  that  I  was  averse  to  looking 
at  loved  forms  through  it.  Did  I  then  fail  thus  of  my  chief 
duty  as  an  investigator,  as  the  doughty  believer  and  critic 
is  sure  to  say  I  did,  and  that  at  the  most  crucial  point?  I 
trow  not.  Living,  as  I  have  said,  among  believers,  I  have 
been  notified  unnumbered  times  that  spirit  messages  from 
departed  friends  awaited  me,  and  I  have  responded  often 

xxix 


INTRODUCTION 

to  such  calls,  but  always  with  results  that  have  positively 
shamed  my  scientific  curiosity,  so  that  my  loathness  to  go 
further  is  the  product  of  a  long,  slow  growth.  Moreover, 
I  am  convinced  that  they  on  their  side  would  be  more  loath 
to  meet  me  under  such  conditions  and  for  such  purposes 
than  I  to  meet  them.  I  hate  to  think  of  them  as  under  such 
a  control.  My  belief  in  them  rests  on  higher  grounds,  and 
would  be  degraded  by  such  rendezvous.  I  might  have  cross- 
examined  other  ghosts,  not  so  near  me,  for  proofs  of  their 
identity,  but  not  these.  It  would  be  like  peeping  and  bot- 
anising  on  my  mother's  grave,  when  all  these  and  many 
more  plants  grow  elsewhere.  Neither  of  them  shall  be  a 
corpus  vile  for  experimentation  or  ghostly  vivisection  on 
my  part. 

But  one  need  not  be  so  serious.  Each  was  only  a  flatus 
vocis,  and  to  such  callers  I  am  not  at  home.  If  ghosts  are 
real,  too,  there  must  be  abundant  other  evidence,  and  this 
we  have  utterly  failed  to  find ;  and  only  when  there  is  a 
decent  case  should  we  conjure  those  nearest  and  dearest. 
Hyslop's  example  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  I  draw 
the  line  at  such  indignity  for  my  own  family,  all  of  whom 
in  life  had  a  horror  of  all  such  communications.  My  real 
father  ( Heaven  rest  his  soul ! )  would  never  have  responded 
to  such  a  call,  and  I  am  still  in  too  much  aw^e  of  him  to 
have  him  catch  me  at  such  biLsiness.  I  can  vividly  antici- 
pate his  reproof  without  seeing  him  compelled  to  administer 
it  in  the  control's  hideous  penmanship,  when  he  wrote  an 
almost  copperplate  hand.  Both  these  relatives  died  firm 
in  the  Christian  faith  of  another  life  after  death,  and 
neither  of  them  would  have  welcomed  the  scepticism  that 
would  be  implied  on  my  part  in  thus  questioning  their 
existence.  Thus,  under  the  circumstances,  it  would  not 
have  been  a  pleasant  meeting.  Finally,  I  do  not  worry 
about  another  life,  and  am  not  suffering  from  any  parousa- 
mania  to  explore  it  now  and  here.  This  life  is  rich  and 
good  enough  for  me  now,  and  if  another  comes  in  its  own 

XXX 


INTRODUCTION 

good  time,  as  I  hope  at  least  to  deserve,  its  fruitions  and  its 
reunions  will  be  welcome  surplusage,  and  if  not,  that,  too, 
is  best.  One  world  at  a  time  is  the  motto  that  is  best  to  live 
and  die  by.  Doing  the  present  duty  with  all  our  might  is 
the  best  propaedeutic  for  whatever  lies  beyond,  and  it  is 
bad  policy  for  even  science  to  waste  time  and  energy  in 
trying  to  force  man's  way  to  knowledge  that  lies  beyond 
and  above  his  estate.  Here  faith  is  better  than  sense.  This 
domain  may  well  ever  be  reserved  from  reason  and  science. 
Let  us  work  on  soluble  problems,  for  there  are  hosts  of  them 
that  fairly  cry  out  for  exploration ;  and  religion  surely  has 
some  rights  that  even  science  might  well  respect. 

In  fine,  at  the  very  best,  I  for  one  can  see  nothing  more 
in  Mrs.  Piper  than  an  interesting  case  of  secondary  per- 
sonality with  its  own  unique  features.  It  is  very  easy  to 
conjure  mystic  meanings  into  the  utterances  of  all  such 
split-otf  egos,  to  treat  every  mutter  in  a  dream  symbolically, 
to  match  each  at  occasional  points  with  real  events  or  per- 
sons, if  we  set  out  with  the  wish  and  will  to  do  so.  Kant 
set  aside  Swedenborg  because  he  had  no  stomach  for  ex- 
plaining the  terms  of  a  visionary  by  the  theories  of  a  meta- 
physician, and  the  members  of  the  Piper  cult  should  profit 
by  his  example.  Even  telepathy  seems  to  me  a  striking  case 
of  the  subjection  of  the  intellect  by  the  will-to-believe. 
If -an  intense  optical  stimulus  or  the  high  psychic  impres- 
sion it  causes  cannot  jimip  across  the  infinitesimal  space 
occupied  by  the  myaline  nerve  sheath  so  as  to  affect  the 
auditory  fibres,  or  vice  versa,  as  in  synesthesia,  and  if  the 
law  of  isolated  conductivity  holds  and  is  so  cardinal  in 
neurology,  how  much  less  can  impressions  pass  across  vast 
spaces  independently  of  the  organs  of  sense !  Here  I  have 
for  years  had  a  standard  series  of  tests  often  tried  on  be- 
lievers in  telepathy  and  clairvoyance,  but  never  with  a 
glimmer  of  success.  Only  when  conditions  can  be  so  con- 
trolled that,  e.  g.,  a  teacher  can  announce  beforehand  that 
on  such  a  day,  hour,  and  place  he  will  demonstrate  these 

xxxi 


INTRODUCTION 

things,  can  or  will  they  be  accepted  by  any  sound  scientific 
mind.  Science  is  indeed  a  solid  island  set  in  the  midst  of  a 
storm3%  foggy,  and  uncharted  sea,  and  all  these  phenomena 
are  of  the  sea  and  not  the  land.  If  there  have  been  eras 
of  enlightenment  it  is  because  these  cloud  banks  of  super- 
stition, for  which  about  all  forms  of  modern  Spiritism  are 
only  collective  terms,  have  lifted  for  a  space  or  season. 
Spiritism  is  the  ruck  and  muck  of  modern  culture,  the  com- 
mon enemy  of  true  science  and  of  true  religion,  and  to 
drain  its  dismal  and  miasmatic  marshes  is  the  great  work 
of  modern  culture.  The  passion  to  know  whether  if  a  man 
dies  he  shall  live  again,  which  weights  all  the  dice  and 
makes  most  men  eagle-eyed  for  all  that  can  favour  and 
bat-eyed  for  all  that  seems  against  what  is  the  deep  desire 
of  every  heart,  will  never  find  satisfaction  or  solution  in 
this  wise.  We  have  largely  evicted  superstition  from  the 
physical  universe,  which  used  to  be  the  dumping  ground  of 
the  miraculous.  Superstition  to-day  has  its  stronghold  in 
the  dark  terroe.  incognitcB  of  the  unconscious  soul  of  man 
toward  which  researchers  to-day  are  just  as  superstitious 
as  savages  are  toward  lightning,  eclipses,  comets,  and  earth- 
quakes. The  attitude  of  mind  of  these  two  types  of  man- 
kind toward  these  two  classes  of  phenomena  can  be  psy- 
chologically paralleled  to  the  uttermost  detail.  But  we 
have  great  ground  to  rejoice  that  science  is  now  advancing 
into  this  domain  more  rapidly  than  ever  before,  and  that 
the  last  few  years  have  seen  more  progress  than  the  cen- 
tury that  preceded.  The  mysteries  of  our  psychic  being 
are  bound  ere  long  to  be  cleared  up.  Every  one  of  these 
ghostly  phenomena  will  be  brought  under  the  domain  of 
law.  The  present  recrudescence  here  of  ancient  faiths  in 
the  supernatural  is  very  interesting  as  a  psychic  atavism, 
as  the  last  flashing  up  of  a  group  of  old  psychoses  soon  to 
become  extinct.  When  genetic  psychology  has  done  its 
work,  all  these  psychic  researches  will  take  their  place 
among  the  solemn  absurdities  in  the  history  of  thought,  and 

xxxii 


INTRODUCTION 

the  instincts  that  prompted  them  will  be  recognised  as 
only  psychic  rudimentary  organs  that  ought  to  be  and  will 
be  left  to  atrophy. 

Dr.  Tanner  has  for  three  years  been  my  research  co- 
adjutor at  Clark  University.  She  is  an  able  and  indefat- 
igable worker,  and  her  first  book,  "  The  Child  "  (1904, 
pp.  430)  has  had  wide  vogue  and  is  still  the  best  general 
survey  of  pre-adolescence.  The  present  work  is,  of  course, 
all  her  own,  save  a  few  notes  of  mine  on  the  Piper  sittings, 
jotted  down  with  no  thought  of  their  publication,  least  of 
all  in  their  present  form.  It  is  significant  that  she  began 
this  study  inclined  to  believe  that  there  was  at  least  some 
general  truth  in  both  telepathy  and  in  Spiritism,  but  in 
and  by  the  studies  here  reported  has  passed  over  to  a  nega- 
tive attitude  toward  both.  To  my  mind,  this  treatise  is  the 
sanest  and  best  of  the  many  that  have  of  late  appeared  in 
this  field,  and  should  be  carefully  pondered  by  all  inter- 
ested in  the  subject.  It  is  my  sincere  hope  and  belief  that 
it  will  do  much  to  bring  a  sounder  and  more  scientific  atti- 
tude into  vogue  than  that  which  has  prevailed  during  re- 
cent years.  It  is  significant,  too,  that  the  chief  works  of 
the  English  Psychic  Research  Society  have  never  before 
had  a  searching,  impartial,  critical  estimate,  often  as  they 
have  been  worked  over  by  believers.  Those  with  scepticism 
enough  to  have  been  impartial  have  never  been  able  to 
arouse  interest  enough  to  treat  these  studies  thoroughly. 
Thus,  I  cannot  but  hope  that  this  book  will  mark  a  turn  of 
the  tide. 

G.  Stanley  Hall. 

Clark  University, 
Worcester,  Mass.,  July,  1910. 


„.      .        OF  THE 


EXPLANATION    OF    TERMS    USED 


In  the  following  pages  various  somewhat  technical 
terms  are  used  which  need  some  preliminary  explanation. 
They  cannot  always  be  exactly  defined  because  they  have 
varying  connotations  with  different  writers,  but  the  en- 
deavour here  will  be  to  give  the  reader  a  general  idea  of  the 
meaning. 

First  consider  the  terms  descriptive  of  the  sittings  of 
the  trance  medium.  The  medium  is  the  medium  of  com- 
munication between  this  world  and  the  other;  the  sitter  is 
the  person  who  comes  to  receive  messages,  and  in  this  dis- 
cussion is  usually  identical  with  the  experimenter.  The 
control  is  the  spirit  on  the  other  side  who  enters  the  medi- 
um 's  body  and  controls  the  mouth  or  hand.  The  communi- 
cating spirit  may  be  the  control  also,  or  may  simply  be 
present  on  the  other  side  and  give  his  messages  to  the  con- 
trol. The  latter  is  supposed  to  be  the  case  usually  with  Mrs. 
Piper.  Mrs.  Piper  has  various  controls  at  the  present  time. 
The  spirit  of  Richard  Hodgson,  who,  while  alive,  was  Mrs. 
Piper's  manager  for  eighteen  years,  is  the  most  common 
one.  For  translations  of  foreign  languages,  the  spirit  of 
F.  W.  PI.  Myers,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Psychical  Re- 
search Society  and  a  voluminous  writer  while  alive,  is  usu- 
ally called  upon.  Rector  is  another  control  who  appears 
at  the  beginning  and  end  of  each  sitting  and  occasion- 
ally at  other  times.  Only  a  few  members  of  the  Psychical 
Society  know  who  he  claims  to  have  been  while  alive. 
Other  controls  have  appeared  with  Mrs.  Piper  and  still  do 

XXXV 


EXPLANATION    OF    TERMS    USED 

at  times,  but  the  references  to  them  in  the  text  are  self- 
explanatory.  The  ]\Iyers  and  Hodgson  controls,  however, 
appear  not  only  in  Mrs.  Piper's  sittings  but  also  in  the 
messages  sent  through  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mrs.  Holland,  and 
their  presence  there  should  not  lead  the  reader  to  conclude 
that  they  are  different  persons.  They  claim  to  be  the  same, 
communicating  through  the  different  mediums.  To  distin- 
guish them  from  each  other  the  Psychical  Researchers  des- 
ignate them  as  the  Piper-Myers,  Verrall-Myers,  and  the  like. 

We  cannot  undertake  here  to  give  all  the  spiritistic 
terms  commonly  used.  '  *  The  light  ' '  is  the  term  employed 
by  the  controls  as  synonymous  with  medium.  "  The  ma- 
chine "  is  the  medium's  body  and  especially  her  right 
hand.  *  *  This  side  ' '  refers  to  the  world  of  living  men,  and 
"  the  other  side  "  to  the  world  of  spirits. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness  these  terms  are  used  in  their 
current  meanings  in  the  body  of  the  text.  For  the  same 
reason,  a  sharp  line  of  division  is  drawn  between  Mrs.  Pi- 
per and  her  controls,  the  two  being  spoken  of  as  if  they 
were  totally  distinct.  Mrs.  Piper,  or  the  waking  or  normal 
Mrs.  Piper,  is  the  Mrs.  Piper  who  is  not  in  the  trance  state. 
When  in  the  trance,  she  is  referred  to  simply  as  "  the  me- 
dium," and  whatever  is  said  and  done  by  her  is  referred 
to  the  controls. 

The  trance  state  in  her  case  is  described  at  length  in 
the  text.  But  trance  states  are  by  no  means  the  exclusive 
possession  of  mediums.  They  are  common  in  hysterical 
subjects,  and  in  cases  of  secondary  personality,  and  can  be 
produced  by  hypnosis  or  suggestion  with  proper  subjects. 
While  in  the  trance  the  victim  is  more  or  less  unconscious 
of  what  is  going  on  about  her,  and  on  recovering  remem- 
bers her  feelings  more  or  less  dimly.  The  state  has  many 
resemblances  to  somnambulism.  Neither  the  causes  nor 
cure  of  it  are  as  yet  well  understood. 

The  suhconscioiis  self  or  sxihliminal  mind  is  a  term  used 
to  designate  various  mental  processes  which  seem  to  be 

xxxvi 


EXPLANATION    OF    TERMS    USED 

present  in  the  mind,  but  are  not  within  the  range  of  con- 
sciousness, e.  g.,  if  a  person  has  a  difficult  decision  to 
make,  he  may  put  the  whole  matter  out  of  his  mind,  not 
thinking  about  it  for  several  days,  and  then  one  day  find 
that  he  knows  just  what  he  intends  to  do.  In  such  a  case, 
various  shiftings  of  associations  must  have  been  going  on 
of  which  he  has  no  memory  and  which  he  could  not  attend 
to  at  any  time,  and  so  we  say  they  went  on  "  below  con- 
sciousness," or  in  the  "  subconscious  mind,"  Again,  it 
has  been  discovered  that  in  many  cases  of  hysteria  the  root 
trouble  is  some  mental  shock  which  has  sunk  below  the 
conscious  level  and  is  there  disorganising  the  personality, 
and  that  when  this  can  be  brought  to  consciousness  and 
connected  wdth  the  rest  of  the  mental  life,  the  person  is 
cured.  In  hypnotism,  again,  with  a  good  subject,  a  com- 
mand can  be  given  that  he  shall  do  some  act  at  some  fu- 
ture date — even  a  year  or  more  later — and  when  the  time 
comes  he  will  do  the  act.  This  is  called  post-hypnotic  sug- 
gestion. In  the  interval  between  the  hypnotising  and  the 
date  set  for  the  act,  the  subject  has  no  memory  of  the  com- 
mand, and  yet  the  fact  that  he  performs  the  act  at  the 
appropriate  time  shows  that  the  command  left  some  sort 
of  trace.     So  we  say  it  was  in  the  "  subconscious  mind." 

The  memories  that  can  be  revived  in  hypnosis  or  by 
putting  the  subject  through  a  strict  process  of  self-analy- 
sis and  questioning  extended  sometimes  over  weeks — called 
the  psycho-analytic  method — seem  to  indicate  that  very 
many  experiences  which  we  cannot  recall  at  will  are  never- 
theless present  in  this  subconscious  level,  and  many  stu- 
dents now  suppose  that  no  experience  is  ever  really 
forgotten. 

Now,  if  some  of  these  groups  of  submerged  or  sub- 
conscious memories  are  roused  into  activity,  they  tend  to 
connect  themselves  with  other  groups,  and  under  certain 
conditions  of  nervous  strain  or  shock,  they  may  become 
strong  enough  to  obtain  control  of  the  usual  channels  of 

xxxvii 


EXPLANATION    OF    TERMS    USED 

expression,  the  mouth  and  hands  especially,  and  then  the 
person  speaks  only  of  those  memories  and  feelings  and 
becomes  a  new  personality.  We  say  then  that  a  secondary 
personality  has  emerged.  After  a  time — ^sometimes  weeks 
or  months,  sometimes  only  days  or  hours — these  centres 
lose  their  control,  the  person  goes  into  a  sort  of  stupor, 
trance,  or  sleep,  and  wakes  up  either  his  old  self  or  a  third 
self,  still  another  personality.  The  original  self  is  the 
primary  personality.  Theoretically  there  is  no  limit  to 
the  number  of  selves  which  may  thus  appear,  and  in  some 
clinical  cases  as  many  as  six  have  been  studied. 

The  principal  reason  why  these  multiple  personalities 
do  not  appear  in  most  of  us  seems  to  be  that  we  ourselves 
use  the  ordinary  avenues  of  expression  of  thought,  the 
mouth,  hands,  and  body  generally,  so  constantly  that  they 
cannot  easily  be  shunted  off  from  their  usual  connections 
and  connected  with  these  submerged  thoughts.  But  many, 
if  not  all,  people  can  learn  to  do  this.  If  a  person  follows 
Mrs.  Verrall's  suggestions,  as  given  in  her  account  in  the 
text,  he  will  probably  get  writing,  as  she  did,  or  if  not 
writing,  he  may  succeed  with  crystal  gazing. 

Writing  produced  in  this  state  of  abstraction,  seem- 
ingly without  the  volition  or  knowledge  of  the  writer,  is 
called  automatic  writing,  and  the  writer  is  called  the 
automatist.  Such  writing  may  be  done  in  the  ordinary 
way,  holding  the  pencil  in  the  hand,  or  by  means  of  the 
planchette.  The  planchette  has  various  forms.  In  its  sim- 
plest form  it  is  a  thin  board  on  three  legs  with  castors  so 
that  it  moves  very  easily.  The  front  leg  sometimes  consists 
of  a  pencil,  and  then  the  planchette  is  put  on  a  piece  of 
paper.  If  the  front  leg  is  not  a  pencil,  the  planchette  is 
put  on  a  board  which  has  the  alphabet  printed  on  it. 
In  either  case  the  hand  is  placed  lightly  on  top  of  the 
planchette  and  questions  are  then  asked  of  it.  If  the  con- 
ditions are  propitious,  an  answer  will  be  written  or  spelled 
out  even  to  questions  of  which  the  automatist  knows  noth- 

xxxviii 


EXPLANATION    OF    TERMS    USED 

ing.  In  such  cases  the  abstracted  state  of  the  automatist 
gives  the  subconscious  ideas  and  inferences  a  chance  to 
express  themselves  through  the  writing,  and  so  correct 
answers  may  be  given  to  things  completely  forgotten  by 
the  conscious  mind,  and  much  nonsense  will  also  be  pro- 
duced. 

There  is  also  a  group  of  terms  connected  with  the  ex- 
periments in  thought  transference.  The  experimenter  or 
agent  is  the  one  who  is  giving  the  impressions;  the  percipi- 
ent is  the  subject,  or  the  one  who  is  sitting  passively  try- 
ing to  receive  the  thoughts  in  the  mind  of  the  agent. 
Hyperesthesia  is  a  state  of  heightened  sensitiveness  of  some 
sense-organ.  For  instance,  ordinarily,  a  person  cannot 
hear  a  watch  tick  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  away, 
but  if  his  ears  are  hyperesthetic,  he  may  hear  it  even  in  the 
next  room  with  the  door  closed.  Sight,  smell,  etc.,  may  be 
similarly  heightened  under  some  conditions. 

Suggestibility  is  a  term  applied  to  a  condition  in  which 
a  person  is  influenced  to  an  unusual  degree  by  suggestions 
or  conunands  given  to  him.  It  seems  to  be  especially  char- 
acteristic of  the  hypnotic  trance  and  abstracted  states 
already  referred  to.  By  means  of  suggestion  a  person  in 
any  of  these  states  may  be  made  hyperesthetic  to  some 
objects  and  insensitive  to  others. 

Amnesia  is  forgetf ulness  of  what  has  happened  in  these 
states. 

Various  other  terms  used  in  the  text  are  either  self- 
explanatory   or  are  defined  when  used. 


STUDIES  IN  SPIRITISM 


CHAPTER    I 
INTRODUCTION:   SCOPE  AND  vSTANDPOINT  OF  THIS  STUDY 

Probably  no  modern  form  of  religion — not  even  except- 
ing Christian  Science — is  so  fiercely  discussed  to-day  as 
Spiritism.  On  the  one  hand  the  Psychical  Researchers 
have  for  the  first  time  studied  the  facts  in  the  case  sys- 
tematically and  have  printed  voluminously,  persistently 
calling  their  work  "  scientific  "  and  maintaining  that  they 
have  "  proved  "  certain  facts  bearing  in  the  most  funda- 
mental way  upon  personal  survival  after  death.  They 
have  thus  drawn  to  themselves  a  large  following  of  well- 
read,  mystically  inclined  people,  who  have  perhaps  found 
orthodox  religion  somewhat  too  arid  to  satisfy  their  deeply 
emotional  natures,  and  who  gladly  believe  in  scientific  dem- 
onstrations of  immortality. 

On  the  opposite  side  stand  the  strict  scientists  of  all 
sorts,  physical,  biological,  and  psychological,  who  consider 
the  study  of  such  phenomena  a  waste  of  time,  and  who 
have  no  tolerance  either  for  the  persons  or  the  results  of 
their  work.  These  men  rarely  put  their  opinions  into  print, 
because  for  the  most  part,  probably,  they  are  unprintable, 
and  would  corisist  chiefly  of  dashes,  and  so  the  general  pub- 
lic has  heard  little  of  recent  years  save  the  things  favour- 
able to  "  scientific  spiritism."  We  lack,  therefore,  an 
evaluation  of  the  subject  which  will  disclose  the  flaws  in 
the  evidence  and  yet  which  will  do  justice  to  the  pioneer 
work  of  the  Psychical  Researchers  and  to  the  unsatisfied 

1 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

needs  which  have  led  to  this  great  outburst  of  belief  in 
Spiritism. 

In  the  space  of  the  present  work,  I  cannot  hope  to  do 
this  with  regard  to  all  the  phenomena  included  under  Spir- 
itism, nor  can  I  even  deal  with  the  historical  phase  of  the 
subject  to  any  great  extent.  I  shall  limit  myself  rather 
closely  to  the  work  of  Mrs.  Piper  and  of  the  English  Psy- 
chical Research  Society  on  telepathy  and  related  phe- 
nomena. In  thus  omitting  discussion  of  the  physical  phe- 
nomena, and  of  the  historical  side  of  Spiritism,  I  am  in- 
fluenced chiefly  by  the  fact  that  there  are  two  excellent 
books  covering  these  phases,  viz.,  Mr.  Podmore's  "  History 
of  Modern  Spiritualism  "  and  Mr.  Carrington's  "  Physical 
Phenomena  of  Spiritualism,"  although  Mr.  Carrington's 
recent  exploitation  of  and  professed  faith  in  Eusapia  Pal- 
ladino,  who  has  been  repeatedly  detected  in  fraud,  must 
cast  an  unfortunate  shadow  backward  on  this  book.  Here 
I  will  merely  note  the  chief  divisions  of  the  subject  before 
taking  up  my  particular  theme. 

Spiritistic  phenomena  manifest  themselves  in  two  chief 
forms,  psychical  and  physical.  Under  the  latter  come  all 
such  things  as  raps,  slate  writing,  lights,  apports,  mate- 
rialisations, etc.  Under  the  former,  come  the  messages 
purporting  to  be  from  the  dead.  These  may  be  received  in 
various  ways,  either  with  or  without  a  trance,  through 
speaking  or  writing,  or  visions  with  or  without  a  crystal, 
as  warnings  or  premonitions,  and  in  vague  or  definite  form. 
Sometimes  the  control  impersonates  the  spirit,  and  at  other 
times  gives  only  the  content  of  the  message. 

Both  psychical  and  physical  phenomena  are  very  an- 
cient, but  in  modern  times  Spiritism  had  declined  until 
1848  when  the  Fox  Sisters,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  inau- 
gurated a  movement  which  has  spread  continuously  since, 
in  spite  of  the  most  colossal  and  frequently  exposed  frauds. 
The  frauds  became  so  notorious  and  yet  the  dupes  so  nu- 
merous, both  in  this  country  and  in  England,  that  when 

2 


INTRODUCTION 

the  English  Society  of  Psychical  Research  was  organised 
in  1882,  one  of  its  first  steps  was  to  appoint  a  Committee  to 
investigate  Spiritism.  Some  of  the  members  of  this  Com- 
mittee were  themselves  sincere  Spiritists  and  others  were 
sceptics,  but  all  were  united  in  the  conviction  that  all  fraud 
must  be  exposed. 

The  members  of  this  Committee  made  it  their  business 
to  visit  mediums  and  to  find  out  how  they  produced  their 
phenomena.  The  first  result  was  the  exposure  of  very 
many  mediums  of  high  standing,  and  the  publication  of 
their  frauds  in  the  Proceedings  and  Journal  of  the  Society. 
The  Committee  finally  reached  the  conclusion  that  no  pro- 
fessional medium  could  be  used  in  scientific  investigation, 
because  even  if  sometimes  she  produced  genuine  phenom- 
ena, she  would  use  trickery  in  order  to  get  results  when 
the  genuine  ones  could  not  be  secured.  The  desideratum 
in  the  way  of  a  medium  is  to  have  some  one  whose  living 
is  not  dependent  upon  her  seances,  and  who  is  so  honest 
and  so  in  love  with  truth  that  the  desire  for  reputation, 
success,  etc.,  will  not  induce  her  to  employ  fraud. 

The  mediums  whom  the  Society  puts  into  this  class 
may  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand,  and  even  they 
are  of  very  different  degrees  of  merit.  First  let  us  say 
that  in  seeking  for  "  scientific  "  proofs  as  distinct  from 
probabilities  or  merely  interesting  statements,  the  Society 
itself  discards  historical  cases  in  toto,  because  the  accounts 
of  them  do  not  give  sufficient  details  for  us  to  pass  judg- 
ment on  them  either  for  or  against.  This  is  true  even  in 
the  cases  of  D.  D,  Home  and  Stainton  Moses,  who  are 
probably  the  most  eminent  Spiritists  of  recent  times.  We 
have  left  then  a  small  group  of  non-professional  mediums 
who  are  willing  to  subject  themselves  to  any  tests  and  who 
have  never  been  discovered  in  fraud.  Those  concerned 
with  psychical  phenomena,  and  in  whom  the  English  So- 
ciety is  interested,  are  Mrs.  Thompson,  *Mrs.  Holland,  Mrs. 
Forbes,  Mrs.  Verrall,  and  Mrs.  Piper.    Mrs.  Piper  alone  is 

3 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

an  American,  the  others  all  being  Englishwomen.  Per- 
haps Mrs.  Smead  should  also  be  mentioned  here,  as  one  in 
whom  Hyslop  is  especially  interested  in  this  country,  but 
her  case  has  not  been  subjected  to  such  severe  tests  as  the 
others  have. 

Comparatively  little  has  been  published  of  the  four 
Englishwomen,  the  most  important  being  Mrs.  Verrall's 
account  of  her  development  of  automatic  writing,  and  Mrs. 
Holland's  cross  correspondences.  These  we  shall  consider 
later.  Far  more  nimierous  than  these  and  more  widely 
knowTi  are  the  messages  delivered  through  Mrs,  Piper. 
Indeed,  so  much  of  the  evidence  for  ' '  scientific  Spiritism  ' ' 
comes  through  her  that  we  hardly  exaggerate  the  case  in 
saying  that  she  is  the  only  medium  who  at  present  offers 
any  proofs  of  the  psychical  phenomena  of  Spiritism  which 
appeal  to  judicial  minds.  She  and  the  mediums  just  men- 
tioned are  the  only  ones  who  have  submitted  to  and  seemed 
to  stand  any  scientific  and  long-continued  series  of  tests. 

There  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what 
constitutes  a  scientific  test  of  a  seance,  and  perhaps  we  may 
simplify  the  problem  by  dividing  it  into  various  sections. 
First  we  shall  consider  the  qualities  desirable  in  the  investi- 
gator or  sitter;  second,  the  standards  and  conditions  to  be 
used  in  obtaining  physical  phenomena ;  and  third,  standards 
for  judging  the  content  of  messages. 

First,  as  to  the  desirable  qualities  in  the  investigator. 
That  investigator  will  have  the  least  personal  bias  in  this 
matter  who  has  suffered  no  keen  and  recent  loss  of  some 
beloved  friend  or  relative.  A  strong  desire  to  come  into 
touch  with  the  departed  makes  it  difficult  to  hold  the  judg- 
ment in  suspense  when  they  purport  to  appear.  The  in- 
vestigator should  also  be  well  poised  and  well  balanced,  and 
should  not  be  suffering  from  nervous  disease  or  nervous 
exhaustion,  since  such  usually  disturbs  the  judgment,  es- 
pecially where  personal  affairs  are  concerned.  If  he  is 
investigating  physical  phenomena,  such  as  materialisations, 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

raps,  etc.,  it  is  indispensable  that  he  should  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  sleight  of  hand.  In  no  other  way  can  he  be  sure 
that  he  is  not  deceived.  Whether  he  is  investigating  physi- 
cal phenomena  or  psychical,  he  ought  to  know  the  degree 
to  which  suggestion  and  inference  assist  observation  in  all 
our  thinking,  and  especially  the  illusions  to  which  memory 
is  subject.  He  also  ought  to  understand  how  necessary  it 
is  to  give  the  medium  no  inkling  of  his  purposes  or  method. 

Incidentally  it  should  be  remarked  here  that,  contrary 
to  a  wide-spread  opinion,  the  physical  scientist  is  not  the 
best  qualified  person  to  investigate  spiritistic  phenomena. 
In  many  cases  eminent  scientists  have  been  deceived  by 
palpable  frauds,  and  some  conjurers  assert  that  they  are 
especially  easy  to  deceive  because  they  are  so  confident  of 
the  trustworthiness  of  their  senses.  They  are  easily  di- 
verted to  some  unimportant  physical  detail  which  attracts 
their  scientific  minds,  and  while  they  are  attending  to  that 
the  conjurer  performs  the  essential  part  of  his  trick.  They 
also  have  no  conception  of  the  art  of  misdirection,  or  the 
tricks  which  their  memories  may  play  them,  A  cynical  man 
of  the  world,  with  no  trust  in  the  average  man,  would  be 
the  best  investigator,  if  he  had  some  psychological  training. 

It  needs  few  words  to  show  the  difference  between  this 
ideal  investigator  and  the  average  sitter.  In  the  begin- 
ning some  persons  go  to  a  medium  partly  for  the  joke  of  it, 
but  even  they  usually  have  some  residuiun  of  superstition, 
perhaps  unconfessed  even  to  themselves,  which  inclines 
them  to  attach  undue  significance  to  any  hit  the  medium 
may  make.  This  tendency  to  explain  unexplained  events 
by  supernatural  agencies  is  so  strong  in  all  of  us  that  it 
might  almost  be  called  an  instinct,  and  even  the  most  rigid 
training  in  exact  science  rarely  eliminates  it  except  in  the 
realm  of  the  particular  science  concerned.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  the  average  sitter,  even  if  he  comes 
away  still  an  unbeliever,  usually  has  the  feeling  that  this 
or  that  incident  or  saying  of  the  medium  may,  after  all, 

5 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

have  been  caused  by  some  supernatural  power.  Any  one 
who  talks  with  people  who  have  gone  to  a  sitting,  half  in 
curiosity,  half  in  fun,  must  have  noted  this  reference  to  the 
surprising,  and  inexplicable,  save  in  unusually  hard-headed 
persons.  The  infrequent  sitter,  then,  declines  to  believe 
that  some  things,  at  least,  are  inexplicable  by  natural  laws. 

But  the  sitter  who  goes  to  mediums  occasionally  or  reg- 
ularly goes  far  beyond  this.  Such  a  sitter  usually  has  a 
practical  motive  in  thus  going.  He  or  she  may  want  advice 
in  business,  and  seeks  it  from  the  deceased  wife,  husband, 
or  friend.  Not  infrequently  the  sitter  does  get  good,  prac- 
tical suggestions — none  the  less  so  because  they  come  from 
the  medium — ^which  perhaps  are  worth  the  money  he  pays 
for  them,  and  so  he  comes  to  depend  upon  the  sitting  at 
crucial  times.  Very  often  advice  is  wanted  as  to  delicate 
family  situations,  comfort  is  desired  by  the  bereaved 
mourner,  and  the  feelings  of  remorse  over  unnecessary 
misunderstanding  and  unkindness  are  to  be  removed.  In 
such  cases  the  medium  comes  to  hold  in  the  life  of  the  sitter 
a  position  which  combines  to  a  large  extent  the  functions 
formerly  performed  by  both  the  pastor  and  the  family 
lawyer.  If  in  addition  she  prescribes,  she  adds  the  duties 
of  the  family  physician. 

The  person  who  is  receiving  valuable  suggestions  or 
comfort  is  not  much  concerned  to  look  for  fraud.  When 
raps  or  materialisations  are  being  produced,  he  is  attending 
strictly  to  the  C07itent  of  the  messages.  If  the  messages  are 
vague,  he  is  most  interested  in  interpreting  them,  not  in 
considering  that  such  generalities  do  not  imply  spiritual 
assistance.  When  he  leaves  the  sitting  he  cares  little 
whether  his  memory  of  it  is  absolutely  accurate,  but  he 
does  care  a  great  deal  whether  he  remembers  and  inter- 
prets it  in  such  a  way  as  to  help  him  in  his  daily  living. 
In  short,  his  object  is  not  scientific  investigation  but  prac- 
tical assistance.  He  is  a  thorough-going  pragmatist.  It 
helps  him,  therefore  it  is  valuable  for  him,  therefore,  he 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

concludes,  it  is  true;  which  means,  to  him,  that  its  own 
claims  are  to  be  accepted. 

On  the  other  side,  the  attitude  of  the  medium  is  more 
complex  than  is  ordinarily  recognised.  In  another  con- 
nection I  shall  discuss  the  diathesis  of  the  genuine  medium. 
Here  I  will  only  point  out  that  there  seem  to  be  at  least 
three  characteristic  types  of  medium.  First  there  is  the 
thorough-going  fraud,  who  intends  to  live  by  working  upon 
these  deepest  instincts  and  emotions.  Such  mediums,  of 
course,  belong  in  the  same  class  as  all  other  dead-beats  and 
swindlers. 

Then,  in  the  second  place,  there  are  those  mediums  who 
do  really  have  feelings  of  premonition,  powers  of  crystal 
gazing,  trance  tendencies,  etc.,  and  who  do  not  themselves 
understand  these  tendencies  and  are  partly  inclined  to  be-, 
lieve  in  them  as  showing  connections  with  the  other  world. 
When  such  persons  are  under  the  necessity  of  earning  a 
living,  and  have  discovered  the  commercial  value  of  their 
powers,  they  see  no  reason  why  they  should  not  become 
mediums  for  pay.  Perhaps  there  is  no  reason.  But  such 
powers  do  not  act  continuously,  and  so  the  medium  finds 
either  that  she  must  sometimes  fail  in  her  sitting,  or  refuse 
a  sitting,  unless  she  supplements  her  supposedly  super- 
normal powers  by  her  native  wit  and  common  sense,  and 
perhaps  draws  more  sitters  by  some  showy  materialisation 
of  one  kind  or  another.  I  fancy  that  many  mediums  have 
this  peculiar  combination  of  belief  in  themselves  with  de- 
ception of  the  sitter,  which  makes  it  especially  difficult  for 
the  casual  investigator  to  discover  their  frauds  or  to  under- 
stand the  mediums. 

Then,  thirdly,  there  is  the  medium  with  these  peculiar 
characteristics,  who  either  does  not  need  to  earn  a  living 
or  has  a  strong  enough  moral  sense  to  resist  the  temptations 
to  deceit  just  mentioned.  These  are  the  simon-pure  eases 
which  alone  are  worthy  scientific  investigation. 

Such  mediums,  who  will  submit  themselves  without  re- 

7 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

serve  to  the  conditions  laid  down  by  unprejudiced  and  well- 
trained  investigators,  are  the  only  ones  who  should  be  con- 
sidered. As  long  as  the  medium  herself  sets  any  of  the 
conditions,  the  results  can  have  no  scientific  value,  no  mat- 
ter how  convincing  they  may  be  to  believers. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  these  few  trust- 
worthy mediums,  and  especially  of  Mrs.  Piper. 

In  making  this  summary  I  have  drawn  especially  upon 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and 
have  myself  had  six  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper.  I  have  also 
had  access  to  some  of  the  unpublished  records  of  Mrs.  Pi- 
per's sittings.  I  have  not  considered  it  necessary  to  go 
over  the  vast  accumulations  of  unpublished  material,  chiefly 
because,  if  I  understand  the  case  correctly,  the  published 
records  contain  the  best  of  what  could  be  made  public. 
The  unpublished  material,  that  is,  increases  tremendously 
the  mass  of  rubbish,  and  to  a  less  degree  the  evidential 
messages,  save  in  some  instances  where  the  matters  are  too 
private  to  be  made  public.  Professor  James  {Proceedings, 
23,  p.  115)  describes  the  entire  mass  of  the  records  on  the 
Hodgson  control  thus :  "  I  have  left  out,  by  not  citing  the 
whole  mass  of  records,  so  much  mere  mannerism,  so  much 
repetition,  hesitation,  irrelevance,  unintelligibility,  so  much 
obvious  groping  and  fishing  and  plausible  covering  up  of 
false  tracks,  so  much  false  pretension  to  power  and  real 
obedience  to  suggestion,  that  the  stream  of  veridicality 
that  rims  through  the  whole  gets  lost  as  it  were  in  a  marsh 
of  feebleness,  and  the  total  dramatic  effect  on  the  mind 
may  be  little  more  than  the  word  '  humbug.'  The  really 
significant  items  disappear  in  the  total  bulk." 

If  I  have  erred,  therefore,  in  not  studying  all  this  mass 
of  material,  my  mistake  redounds  to  the  advantage  of  the 
controls. 


CHAPTER   II 

MRS.  PIPER'S  DISCOVERY,   PERSONALITY,  AND  TRANCE 

STATE 

In  1885  Prof.  William  James,  of  Harvard  University, 
first  heard  of  Mrs.  Piper  through  some  of  the  members  of 
his  family  who  had  had  a  sitting  with  her  and  had  been  told 
the  names  of  various  members  of  the  family,  together  with 
other  bits  of  information  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  the 
medium  to  know  by  any  ordinary  means.  James  himself 
was  sceptical  at  first,  but  was  induced  through  curiosity  to 
attend  a  seance  himself,  his  name  of  course  being  unknown, 
and  his  relationship  to  the  ladies.  He,  too,  was  given  pri- 
vate information  about  the  family  affairs  that  to  him  was 
very  surprising,  and  that  made  him  desire  to  investigate 
the  matter  further.  Accordingly,  not  only  did  he  continue 
to  have  sittings  himself,  but  he  sent  sitters  to  Mrs.  Piper, 
under  assumed  names.  Some  of  the  sitters  obtained  a  great 
deal  of  information  and  became  convinced  that  they  were 
communicating  with  spirits ;  others  obtained  none,  and  felt 
that  Mrs.  Piper  was  a  fraud.  Nevertheless,  the  phenomena 
were  successful  enough  for  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search to  take  up  the  case  in  1888  and  begin  a  systematic 
investigation,  at  first  through  Dr.  Hodgson,  whose  head- 
quarters were  then  in  Boston. 

Dr.  Hodgson's  first  step  was  to  convince  himself  that 
Mrs.  Piper  was  not  employing  fraud,  that  she  had  no  ways 
of  getting  the  information  which  her  controls  give  to  sit- 
ters. For  this  purpose  he  placed  her  under  close  surveil- 
lance, and  had  her  and  her  husband  ' '  shadowed  ' '  for  sev- 
eral weeks  by  a  detective  without  finding  anything  sus- 
4  9 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

picious.  He  also  became  convinced  that  in  her  normal  state 
at  least  she  had  no  desire  to  deceive.  She  showed  no  curi- 
osity at  all  about  the  sitters,  and  when  taken  to  their  houses 
she  was  never  found  questioning  the  servants,  investigating 
the  drawers  or  desks,  or  doing  anything  which  might  yield 
facts  desirable  to  know.  In  addition  to  this,  he  and  the 
other  members  of  the  Society  were  confident  that  even  if 
she  had  desired  to  do  so  she  had  not  the  money  necessary 
to  carry  on  inquiries  on  any  such  scale  as  would  have  been 
necessary  to  obtain  the  results.  Mrs.  Piper's  husband  was 
a  clerk  in  a  Boston  store,  and  Mrs.  Piper  herself  never 
received  more  than  $1,000  a  year  for  her  services,  while 
if  she  had  obtained  her  information  by  sending  people  to 
investigate  families  she  would  have  been  obliged  to  spend 
considerable  sums  for  traveling,  to  say  nothing  of  paying 
the  agent. 

After  becoming  convinced  that  there  was  no  intentional 
fraud,  Hodgson  began  a  study  of  the  content  of  the  mes- 
sages, and  at  length  took  Mrs.  Piper  to  England,  that  the 
Society  there  might  study  her  at  first  hand.  There  all 
sorts  of  precautions  w^ere  taken  to  prevent  her  getting  in- 
formation through  any  ordinary  channels.  Nevertheless, 
Mrs.  Piper  gave  successful  sittings  to  Sir  Oliver  Lodge 
and  to  various  other  members  of  the  Society,  convincing 
many  of  them  that  she  was  in  truth  controlled  by  spirits. 
After  her  return  to  Boston  she  remained  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Society,  giving  sittings  to  sitters  arranged  for 
by  Hodgson,  who  collected  a  vast  mass  of  data  which  are 
now  in  the  archives  in  London.  In  1898  one  of  these  sit- 
ters was  Dr.  James  Hyslop,  then  of  Columbia  University, 
who  was  not  at  that  time  a  believer  in  Spiritism.  His  first 
two  sittings  were  not  very  successful,  but  after  that  the 
spirit  of  his  father  appeared,  took  up  the  problem  of  prov- 
ing his  identity  according  to  the  standards  set  by  the  son, 
and  succeeded  so  well  that  Hyslop  became  convinced  that 
he  was  communicating  with  his   father's  spirit.     Conse- 

10 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

quent  upon  this  Hyslop  gave  up  his  work  of  teaching,  and 
devoted  himself  to  investigating  the  matter  and  to  testing 
Mrs.  Piper  thoroughly  and  scientifically,  in  order  to  make 
it  impossible  for  any  scientist  to  assert  that  fraud  is  pos- 
sible or  any  ordinary  means  of  obtaining  the  information 
given.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  American 
Branch  of  the  Society,  in  1906,  Hyslop  continued  to  experi- 
ment with  Mrs.  Piper,  but  since  then  he  has  been  con- 
cerned with  other  mediums,  while  she  still  remains  under 
the  control  of  the  English  Society,  represented  in  Boston 
by  Mr.  G.  B.  Dorr.  While  there  is  no  formal  contract 
between  Mrs.  Piper  and  the  Society  or  Mr.  Dorr,  the  un- 
derstanding is  that  she  shall  receive  no  sitters  except  those 
for  whom  he  arranges,  and,  on  the  other  side,  that  he  shall 
provide  the  two  or  three  a  week  necessary  to  support  her 
and  her  two  daughters.  Though  she  has  never  received  a 
salary  from  the  Society,  she  is  thus  assured  of  a  living. 

Mrs.  Piper  has  never  been  a  "  professional  medium," 
i.  e.,  she  has  never  received  the  general  public  as  sitters. 
At  the  same  time  we  must  note  that  for  twenty-three  years 
she  has  had  an  ever-increasing  reputation  to  maintain,  and 
that  she  has  reaped  definite  pecuniary  and  social  advan- 
tages from  her  mediumistic  powers,  as  well  as  some 
notoriety  and  annoyance.  Each  additional  year  of  success 
makes  it  harder  for  her  to  contemplate  failure,  and  if  the 
controls  have  any  sense  of  her  importance  to  the  cause  of 
Spiritism,  must  tempt  them  to  employ  all  possible  means 
to  keep  their  messages  up  to  the  highest  standard. 

In  the  many  years  that  she  has  been  under  investigation 
the  normal  ]\lrs.  Piper  has  never  been  discovered  in  fraud. 
Hyslop  estimates  that  about  $75,000  have  been  spent  in  in- 
vestigating and  publishing  the  account  of  her  case,  and 
the  Society  alone  has  devoted  about  2,000  pages  of  its  Pro- 
ceedings to  her.  The  other  wTitings  about  her  would  make 
a  fair  library. 

The  mental  tastes  and  attainments  of  the  normal  Mrs. 

11 

OF 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Piper  have  been  dealt  with  very  little  in  published  accounts 
of  her  case,  but  are  significant  if  one  attempts  to  study  the 
trance  state  in  relation  to  the  normal  one. 

Mrs.  Piper  has  come  ere  now  to  be  a  believer  in  her  own 
extraordinary  powers,  but  she  has  found  so  much  practical 
inconvenience  from  the  publicity  which  has  become  attached 
to  her  that  she  hides  herself  from  the  general  public  as 
much  as  possible.  She  has  been  persecuted  by  reporters 
and  misrepresented  by  the  press  in  ways  that  have  made 
her  justly  indignant,  and  that  have  left  her  to  some  degree 
suspicious  of  every  stranger  who  seeks  her  without  proper 
introductions.  She  seems  to  have  the  feeling  to  some  de- 
gree that  she  is  isolated,  shut  off  from  others  by  her  voca- 
tion, and,  as  far  as  possible,  she  keeps  this  phase  of  her  life 
from  the  knowledge  or  notice  of  casual  acquaintances. 
Sitters  going  to  her  house  are  requested  to  enter  and  go 
up-stairs  quietly,  so  that  occupants  of  the  other  apart- 
ments shall  not  know  sitters  are  being  received,  and  even 
a  ring  at  Mrs.  Piper's  own  door  is  made  unnecessary 
through  some  one  being  on  the  watch  to  receive  the  sitter. 

Mrs.  Piper  speaks  with  strong  feeling  of  the  suspicions 
to  which  she  has  been  subjected,  and  naturally,  and  as  far 
as  possible,  she  discourages  tendencies  shown  by  one  of  her 
daughters  toward  mediumistic  powers,  far  preferring  that 
both  of  them  should  be  trained  thoroughly  along  other 
lines  to  earn  their  own  livings.  Her  powers  have,  indeed, 
brought  her  into  close  acquaintance  with  many  well-known 
men  and  women,  and  have  earned  her  living  for  years,  but 
they  always  have  made  her  stand  out  as  exceptional,  if  not 
abnormal,  and  she  seems  to  look  forward  without  dread 
to  the  time  when  her  power  will  fail — as  the  controls  have 
said  it  would — and  she  must  retire  to  private  life. 

Her  isolation  has  been  emphasised  by  the  fact  that  she 
has  never  had  anything  to  do  with  ordinary  Spiritism,  has 
never  attended  seances  regularly  or  subscribed  to  spir- 
itualistic literature.     She  has,  on  the  other  hand,  read  at 

12 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

some  length  the  publications  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  especially  the  accounts  of  her  own  sittings,  and 
she  enjoys  Prof.  William  James's  writings,  but  finds  more 
technical  works,  such  as  Prince's,  uninteresting. 

Of  late  years  Mrs.  Piper  has  not  been  connected  with 
any  church.  She  was  brought  up  a  Methodist,  but  when 
her  parents  moved  to  a  town  where  there  was  only  a  Con- 
gregational church,  she  attended  that.  She  would  like  to 
have  some  church  connections,  but  seems  to  feel  that  prob- 
ably she  would  not  be  welcomed  in  any  church  on  account 
of  her  work  as  a  medium.    Here,  too,  she  is  isolated. 

The  type  of  mind  shown  by  Mrs.  Piper  is  also  signifi- 
cant. She  seems  to  be  of  the  impulsive,  impressionistic 
type,  guided  far  more  by  feeling  than  by  logical  reasons. 
She  says  that  she  has  premonitions  and  warnings  in  a 
vague  way,  especially  with  regard  to  illness;  that,  although 
she  does  not  often  dream  unless  she  has  indigestion,  she 
has  had  at  least  two  dreams  which  came  true.  She  has 
tried  a  little  crystal  gazing,  and  believes  the  crystal  fore- 
told events,  but  she  has  never,  in  her  normal  state,  received 
telepathic  messages.  In  coming  to  decisions  she  shows  the 
impulsive  tendency.  For  instance,  she  may  suddenly  decide 
to  go  on  a  journey,  put  on  her  hat  and  start  at  once.  She 
reaches  decisions  about  people  quickly  and  on  slight 
grounds.  She  says,  for  instance,  that  if  she  is  in  a  roomful 
of  people  talking  to  some  one,  she  may  overhear  others 
talking,  and  at  once  make  up  her  mind  which  of  them  she 
is  going  to  like  or  dislike. 

This  impressionability  shows  itself  in  various  other  ways. 
She  is  unusually  fond  of  nature  and  its  beauties,  and  very 
susceptible  both  to  pictures  and  to  music.  She  is  poor  at 
remembering  names,  but  good  at  remembering  both  faces 
and  voices,  especially  voices.  She  believes  that  she  can 
tell  much  of  a  person's  character,  especially  his  sincerity, 
from  his  voice. 

In  spite  of  this  susceptibility,  however,  she  is  not  a 

13 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

good  hypnotic  subject.  Years  ago,  in  the  early  history  of 
the  trance,  Professor  James  tried  unsuccessfully  to  hypno- 
tise her,  and  Dr.  Hall  made  two  attempts,  which  were  also 
unsuccessful. 

Her  own  attitude  toward  the  trance  state  seems  to  be 
that  of  a  believing  spectator.  She  says  with  reiteration 
and  emphasis  that  she  has  absolutely  no  memory  of  what 
goes  on  in  the  trance,  not  even  a  feeling  of  deja  vu,  or 
vague  sense  of  recognition.  When  she  reads  the  published 
accounts  of  her  own  sittings  they  are  totally  new  to  her, 
and  sometimes  it  is  difficult  for  her  to  believe  that  she 
could  have  written  the  things  recorded.  She  cannot  tell 
from  her  feelings  afterward  whether  the  sitting  has  been 
pleasant  or  unpleasant,  successful  or  not. 

This  being  the  case,  her  belief  in  her  powers  would  seem 
to  stand  on  the  same  basis  as  anyone  else's.  At  first,  she 
says,  she  did  not  like  to  have  the  trance  come  on  because 
she  feared  that  it  was  a  symptom  of  hysteria  or  some  men- 
tal abnormality.  Accordingly,  she  resisted  it,  she  was 
afraid  of  it,  etc.  But  apparently,  as  the  Researchers  grew 
to  a  belief  in  her  powers,  and  as  she  herself  became  fa- 
miliar with  them  through  conversations  and  reading,  she 
became  confident  that  they  were  not  signs  of  abnormal  but 
of  supernormal  powers,  she  yielded  herself  to  them,  and 
now  believes  in  them  and  in  her  mission  as  a  medium. 

Her  entrance  to  the  trance  state  is  voluntary,  though 
she  is  unable  to  describe  in  detail  her  mental  attitude.  She 
usually  carries  on  a  casual  conversation  with  the  sitters 
while  sitting  in  an  armchair  in  front  of  a  table  on  which 
three  pillows  are  placed.  She  tries  not  to  think  intently 
of  anything,  and  more  or  less  consciously  she  makes  her 
breathing  much  slower.  She  begins  to  look  sleepy,  the  eyes 
become  slightly  fixed  and  staring,  within  a  minute  the 
mouth  drops  open,  and  the  eyes  become  rigid,  the  breath- 
ing is  still  slower,  and  in  five  or  six  minutes  from  the  first 
look  of  sleepiness  the  head  is  dropped  on  the  pillow,  the 

14 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

breathing  is  slower  by  one-half  than  normal,  and  very- 
stertorous,  and  the  hand  is  ready  to  write.  Usually  as  the 
trance  comes  on  the  face  twitches  slightly,  and  sometimes 
the  fingers  do  also.  Sometimes  there  is  some  incoherent 
talking.  The  pulse  varies  from  about  84,  which  seems  to 
be  the  normal  rate  before  the  onset  of  the  trance,  to  be- 
tween 70  and  76  at  the  close.  The  breathing  varies  from 
20  to  22  for  the  normal,  to  between  7  and  10  during  the 
trance,  up  to  the  time  the  hand  ceases  to  write.  It  then 
becomes  gradually  more  rapid,  rising  to  normal  in  the 
course  of  fifteen  minutes. 

This  is  the  present  method  of  entering  the  trance.  Mrs. 
Piper  says  that  she  experiences  no  discomfort  from  it,  and 
that  variations  in  her  health  or  feelings  do  not  seem  to 
modify  it.  It  has  never  come  on  spontaneously,  e.  g.,  while 
she  was  asleep  or  absent-minded  or  dozing. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  trance,  however,  the  case  was 
quite  different.  Then  Mrs.  Piper  was  not  sure  of  what  the 
trance  signified,  was  unwilling  to  yield  fully  to  it,  and  re- 
sisted its  onset.  As  a  result,  it  came  violently,  sometimes 
her  entire  body  was  convulsed,  as  well  as  her  face,  there 
were  sighs  and  groans,  and  the  whole  process  gave  the  im- 
pression of  decided  pain.  But  in  1896,  when  the  Imperator 
group  of  controls  took  possession,  all  this  began  to  decrease, 
until  she  reached  the  present  comparatively  easy  mode  of 
procedure. 

Emergence  from  the  trance  to  recognition  of  those  pres- 
ent and  to  coherent  thinking  usually  takes  longer  than 
entrance  into  it,  and  lasts  from  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes. 
Even  then  Mrs.  Piper  usually  still  looks  sleepy,  seems  a 
little  dazed,  and  speaks  a  little  indistinctly.  She  also  says 
that  for  some  time  afterward  she  is  disinclined  to  move 
about,  her  body  and  limbs  feeling  heavy\ 

In  coming  out  of  the  trance,  after  the  controls  have  de- 
parted, the  hand  drops  the  pencil  and  becomes  inert.  Then 
the  head  begins  to  rise  slowly  from  the  pillow,  being  tossed 

15 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

up  with  each  breath,  then  falling  back  somewhat,  but  each 
time  remaining  up  a  little  more  than  the  last  time,  until  it 
is  upright.  The  breathing  has  been  getting  more  rapid, 
and  the  eyes  slowly  open,  at  first  with  a  vacant  stare,  then 
focussing  upon  near  objects,  and  finally  seeing.  Usually 
the  face  is  much  more  drawn  than  in  going  into  the  trance, 
the  left  side  contracting  more  than  the  right,  twisting  the 
mouth  very  much  to  the  left.  The  face  assumes  an  expres- 
sion of  pain;  frequently  there  are  weeping  and  looks  and 
expressions  of  disgust.  Very  soon  after  this  there  is  usu- 
ally intent  staring  at  some  object  within  range,  then  a 
"  snap  "  in  the  head,  and  then  recognition. 

During  this  coming  out  of  the  trance  Mrs.  Piper  has 
been  encouraged  to  talk,  so  that  almost  as  soon  as  the  head 
is  erect  disjointed  words  are  muttered,  fragments  of  sen- 
tences, exclamations  of  pleasure  or  pain  or  disgust,  followed 
by  remarks  indicating  the  various  degrees  of  recognition 
up  to  the  full  control  of  thought  and  speech. 

The  mental  condition  accompanying  this  return  to  con- 
sciousness is  a  rather  complex  one,  the  result  of  years  of 
suggestion.  On  the  spiritistic  hypothesis,  during  this  in- 
terval the  controls  are  leaving  Mrs.  Piper's  body  and  her 
own  spirit  is  returning  to  it  from  the  other  world.  From 
the  disjointed  remarks  made  at  this  time  one  gathers  that 
her  spirit  has  remained  attached  to  the  body  by  an  ' '  ethe- 
real cord,"  down  which  it  slides,  and  that  its  entrance  is  a 
disagreeable  process,  this  world  looking  very  dark  and  dull 
by  contrast  with  that  other.  Before  this  happens,  how- 
ever, various  exclamations  purport  to  come  from  the  con- 
trol, who  seems  to  depart  by  degrees,  as  it  were,  becoming 
more  incoherent  as  he  fades  away.  Then,  with  no  pause, 
the  next  remark  appears  to  come  from  Mrs.  Piper,  and  we 
infer  that  the  crucial  point  has  been  passed. 

We  have  said  that  going  into  the  trance  is  voluntary. 
How  about  coming  out  of  the  trance  ?  Is  the  length  of  the 
trance  under  the  control  of  the  control,  can  it  be  prolonged 

16 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

indefinitely,  or  shortened  at  will?  On  making  inquiries  of 
Mr.  Dorr  we  were  told  that  on  one  of  Mrs.  Piper's  visits 
to  England  some  experiments  were  made  along  this  line. 
In  one  case  the  trance  was  prolonged  about  four  and  a  half 
hours,  and  on  that  occasion  the  progress  out  of  the  trance 
took  nearly  an  hour,  and  the  investigator  was  too  fearful  of 
bad  results  to  attempt  such  a  long  sitting  another  time. 
We  were  under  pledge  not  to  undertake  any  experiments 
which  might  affect  the  medium's  power,  and  so  could  not 
try  this.  It  seems  probable  that  the  average  time  of  the 
sitting  has  been  determined  by  normal  fatigue,  and  that 
to  prolong  it  beyond  this  time  would  only  result  in  increas- 
ing faintness  and  incoherence  in  the  writing.  Whether  the 
control  would  be  more  suggestible  and  could  be  forced  to 
pass  into  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper  by  degrees,  somewhat  as 
Prince  forced  Ansel  Bourne's  two  personalities  to  meet 
and  unite,  is  a  very  interesting  question. 

As  a  rule  it  takes  five  or  six  minutes  to  enter  the  trance, 
the  hand  wi-ites  between  an  hour  and  a  half  and  two  hours, 
and  it  takes  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  to  come  out  of  the 
trance. 

If  we  assume  that  this  is  approximately  the  fatigue 
limit,  then  it  ought  to  be  possible  for  the  controls  to  leave 
at  any  time  that  they  choose,  and  this  is  actually  the  case. 
On  one  occasion  we  made  the  control  shorten  the  sitting 
by  half  an  hour,  and  I  am  convinced  that  he  could  be  made 
to  leave  at  any  time.  The  coming  out  of  the  trance  is  there- 
fore voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  control,  at  least  up  to  the 
fatigue  limit,  just  as  entering  it  is  voluntary  with  Mrs. 
Piper. 

There  have  been  no  published  tests  of  IMrs.  Piper's  con- 
dition while  in  the  trance  since  the  later  '80 's,  when  James 
made  some.  We  therefore  thought  that  it  would  be  valu- 
able to  ascertain  what  the  present  state  of  things  is,  and 
we  tried  as  many  as  were  possible  without  much  apparatus. 
I  have  already  said  that  during  the  course  of  the  trance 

17 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  pulse  varies  from  84  in  the  normal  to,  at  lowest,  70  in 
the  trance.  The  breathing  varies  from  approximately  22 
in  the  normal  to,  at  lowest,  7,  and,  as  a  rule,  10  in  the 
trance. 

This  profound  variation  in  the  breathing,  with  the  les- 
sened oxygenation  of  the  blood,  must  result  in  a  partial 
suffocation,  a  temporary  toxemia,  and  is  probably  the 
agency  by  means  of  which  the  normal  consciousness  is  put 
out  of  commission  and  the  control  put  into  possession. 

The  head,  we  have  said,  is  dropped  on  the  pillow  and 
turned  to  the  right,  with  the  eyes  closed,  after  first  becom- 
ing staring  and  rigid.  In  the  early  tests  it  was  found  on 
one  occasion,  by  pulling  up  the  eyelid,  that  the  eyeball  was 
rolled  up,  but  we  did  not  find  this  to  be  the  case.  When 
the  eyelid  was  raised  the  ball  seemed  to  be  in  the  normal 
position.  We  were  unable,  however,  to  get  any  sight  reac- 
tions either  to  objects  or  colors. 

We  tested  taste  and  smell  with  similar  negative  results, 
although  the  stimuli  applied  were  strong. 

We  took  a  clicker  and  watch  to  test  hearing  with.  The 
watch  was  put  first  to  the  ear  and  then  to  the  hand,  but 
in  no  case  did  the  control  admit  hearing.  The  clicker 
was  used  similarly,  and  only  when  clicked  in  the  hand 
did  the  control  admit  hearing  it.  This,  of  course,  is  in 
accordance  with  the  control's  assumption  that  his  ear  is 
in  the  hand. 

Undoubtedly  the  hearing  is  normal,  and  is  more  acute 
and  sensitive  than  in  the  average  person,  but  I  question 
whether  it  is  more  so  in  the  control  than  in  the  normal 
Mrs,  Piper,  The  normal  Mrs,  Piper  is  unusually  sensitive 
to  sounds,  voices,  etc.,  and  that  is  probably  why  the  control 
has  always  been  willing  to  let  the  eyes  close  and  receive  his 
information  chiefly  through  the  ears.  Both  ears  are  uncov- 
ered, and  as  the  sitter  is  usually  close  to  Mrs,  Piper 's  right 
hand,  his  mouth  is  not  far  from  her  right  ear.  She  must  feel 
not  only  his  voice  but  his  breath,  and  thus  get  indications  as 

18 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

to  the  regularity  of  it,  catches,  gasps,  etc.,  indicating  sur- 
prise or  some  other  emotion. 

At  the  same  time  the  sitter  is  put  off  his  guard  as  to  the 
sensitiveness  of  the  ear  by  the  control's  statement,  which 
he  is  expected  to  adopt,  that  the  control  hears  through  Mrs. 
Piper's  right  hand.  The  sitter  is  expected  to  talk  at  the 
hand,  and  the  control  appears  to  have  difficulty  in  hearing, 
until  the  sitter  finds  himself  acting  as  we  do  with  deaf  per- 
sons. He  tends  to  shout  at  the  hand,  and  feels  safe  in  mak- 
ing side  remarks  to  the  other  sitters,  etc.  We  found  that 
when  these  side  remarks  contained  any  information  they 
were  later  on  given  back  to  us  by  the  control,  and  if  we 
had  gone  on  the  assumption  that  the  control  was  as  deaf 
as  he  seemed  to  be,  and  had  made  the  remarks  unintention- 
ally, as  most  sitters  do,  we  should  have  been  much  startled 
by  the  control's  knowledge  of  our  private  thoughts.  We 
found  that  whispering  and  slight  noises  always  made  the 
control  suspicious  and  angry. 

The  principal  tests  which  we  wished  to  make  were  on 
the  sensitiveness  of  the  skin,  especially  of  the  right  hand, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  only  part  of  the  body  con- 
trolled by  the  spirit.  We  also  were  very  desirous  of  ascer- 
taining whether  the  control  could  move  any  part  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  body  at  will. 

The  esthesiometer  was  adjusted  at  three-fourths  of  an 
inch  and  applied  to  the  centre  of  the  right  palm,  lightly  at 
first,  and  then  more  heavily,  without  eliciting  any  response. 
The  second  time  it  was  tried,  with  the  heavy  pressure,  the 
hand  wrote  that  it  felt  two  touches.  The  instrument  was 
then  readjusted  at  half  an  inch,  and  applied  first  lightly, 
and  then  heavily,  and  finally  with  a  rocking  motion  which 
would  strongly  emphasise  the  two  points.  Nevertheless, 
the  hand  reported  that  there  was  "  probably  one  "  touch. 
The  pressure  here  was  so  severe  that  Mrs.  Piper  reported 
afterwards  that  for  several  days  there  were  red  points  on 
the  skin. 

19 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

The  pain-pressure  test  was  then  applied  on  the  centre 
of  the  pahn,  the  pressure  being  increased  from  zero  to 
twenty-five  pounds.  The  control  continued  to  write  that  he 
felt  nothing  until  the  maximum  was  reached,  when  he 
wrote,  "  Rector  forbids.     Better  not." 

Now  the  curious  thing  here  is  that  though  the  control 
kept  writing  that  he  could  not  feel  these  pressures,  as  soon 
as  the  pressure  was  removed  the  hand  would  begin  to  write, 
and  the  hand  then  and  at  all  other  times  guided  itself  on 
the  paper,  moving  back  to  the  left  when  it  had  reached 
the  end  of  the  paper,  and  pausing  at  the  bottom  for  the 
sheet  to  be  torn  off,  except  when  it  was  writing  in  a  great 
hurry. 

It  also  is  sensitive  to  the  feeling  of  the  pencil.  If  no 
pencil  was  put  into  the  hand  at  the  beginning  of  the  trance, 
the  hand  began  with  the  usual  writing  motions  but  soon 
paused  and  waited,  and  then,  when  it  got  the  pencil,  began 
over  again,  except  in  one  instance  just  after  we  had  told 
Mrs.  Piper  this  fact.  It  also  showed  considerable  sensitive- 
ness to  the  clicker  which  we  used  in  testing  hearing.  It 
took  the  clicker,  felt  it  over,  and  after  a  little  found 
how  to  click  it,  all  of  which  would  have  been  impossible  had 
the  hand  been  really  insensitive.  Similarly,  every  now  and 
then  during  the  sittings  the  hand  explores  the  sitter's  face 
or  hand,  feeling  them  in  an  undoubtedly  sensitive  way. 

The  obvious  conclusion  which  is  forced  upon  us  from 
these  contradictory  results  is  that  in  reality  the  hand  is 
sensitive,  and  probably  is  approximately  normal  in  its  sen- 
sitiveness, but  that  the  control  is  trying  to  deceive  us  into 
the  belief  that  during  the  trance  there  is  really  no  sensi- 
tiveness in  any  part  of  Mrs.  Piper's  body.  We  cannot 
assume  that  the  control  is  in  a  state  of  anaesthesia  toward 
certain  classes  of  objects,  such  as  can  be  induced  in  hyp- 
notic subjects,  because  the  control  showed  no  anesthesias 
save  in  connection  with  the  experiments. 

These  were  the  first  sense  tests  that  we  gave,  and  as  we 

20 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

tested  smell,  taste,  and  sight  with  only  negative  results  to 
our  strong  stimuli,  we  became  convinced  that  even  if  there 
were  sensitiveness  the  control  would  never  admit  it,  be- 
cause his  whole  purj)ose  was  to  convince  us  that  he  had  no 
sort  of  connection  with  Mrs.  Piper's  body.  We  did  get 
some  involuntary  betrayal  with  both  taste  and  smell,  for  on 
holding  a  bottle  of  ether  to  Mrs.  Piper's  nose,  she  at  first 
winced  and  drew  away  from  it,  although  at  the  same  in- 
stant the  control  wrote  that  he  smelled  nothing.  Similarly, 
when  I  put  a  third  of  a  saltspoonful  of  salt  in  the  mouth, 
the  mouth  drew  up  and  became  wry,  although  just  at  that 
time  the  control  asked  if  we  were  ready  to  begin  the  ex- 
periment. These  reactions  might  have  been  purely  reflex 
perhaps.  But  several  times  in  the  course  of  the  sittings  the 
control  complained  of  the  conditions,  which,  we  found, 
meant  that  the  air  was  close,  and  thus  he  showed  at  least 
so  much  sensitiveness  to  smell. 

Our  attempts  to  persuade  the  control  to  move  various 
other  parts  of  Mrs.  Piper's  body  were  similarly  doomed  to 
failure,  the  control  reiterating  that  he  could  not  be  in  two 
places  at  once,  and  that  he  would  have  to  leave  the  hand, 
go  to  the  other  part  of  the  body  to  be  moved,  and  then 
leave  for  that  day.  We  did  not  feel  that  the  experiment 
was  worth  this  loss  of  time  and  money,  and  so  dropped  it 
at  that  point. 

This  brings  us  to  a  discussion  of  the  relations  between 
the  control  and  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper.  We  have  already 
said  that  Mrs.  Piper  maintains  emphatically  and  with  re- 
iteration that  she  has  not  the  faintest  glimmer  of  memory 
of  what  goes  on  in  the  trance,  and  that  all  her  knowledge 
of  it  comes  from  her  having  read  the  published  accounts 
of  her  sittings  and  from  what  sitters  have  told  her. 

In  an  exactly  similar  way  the  control  claims  to  have 
no  knowledge  of  ]\Irs.  Piper  save  what  he  has  learned  from 
various  sitters.  That  is,  the  theory  which  he  wishes  us  to 
adopt  is  that  he  controls  simply  the  medium's  right  hand, 

21 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  has  no  interest  or  knowledge  in  the  medium  her- 
self. We  tried  at  various  times,  directly  and  indirectly, 
to  obtain  information  from  him  relative  to  Mrs.  Piper, 
but  he  was  always  on  his  guard  at  once  when  we  referred 
to  her. 

It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  subject  this  matter  to 
tests  that  would  be  worth  anything,  because  we  can  never 
tell  whether  any  given  fact  about  the  other  state  has  been 
told  to  the  personality  in  question.  The  really  suspicious 
circumstance  in  the  case  of  the  control  is  that  he  professes 
such  complete  ignorance  of  Mrs.  Piper.  When  we  con- 
sider that  the  living  Hodgson  worked  with  Mrs.  Piper  for 
eighteen  years,  and  that  the  dead  one  has  been  coming 
back  two  or  three  times  a  week  for  nearly  four  years, 
it  is  very  unlikely  that  he  would  be  totally  ignorant  of 
Mrs.  Piper's  address,  family,  habits  of  life,  etc.,  as  he 
claims  to  be. 

In  some  instances,  too,  we  were  able  to  bring  to  the 
surface  a  state  of  feeling  or  even  a  memory  common  to  the 
two  personalities.  We  have  already  said  that  on  various 
occasions  the  control  has  asked  for  more  air,  when  we  were 
not  conscious  that  the  room  was  close,  and  this  fits  in  with 
Mrs.  Piper's  own  statement  that  she  is  very  sensitive  to 
closeness,  feelings  of  suffocation,  etc.,  and  has  to  take  long 
walks  every  day  in  order  to  prevent  this  feeling.  Again, 
in  one  sitting  I  pretended  that  the  gas  was  leaking  out  in 
the  hall,  and  the  control  at  once  wrote  violently  and  with 
many  abbreviations  that  Mr.  Dorr  was  to  fix  anything  that 
was  wrong,  showing  thus  a  marked  solicitude  for  Mrs. 
Piper's  belongings  in  decided  contrast  to  his  pretended  in- 
difference when  we  were  trying  to  get  information.  Again, 
some  sittings  before  we  gave  our  tests,  we  asked  him  if  he 
would  feel  it  if  ]\Irs.  Piper  was  hurt,  and  he  said  that  he 
would  not,  but  that  it  would  be  best  not  to  hurt  the  "  ma- 
chine, "  '  *  because  it  might  suffer  after  I  have  gone. ' '  The 
most  distinct  case  of  a  memory  conmion  to  the  two  states 

22 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

was  when  Dr.  Hall,  before  the  trance,  quoted  the  phrase, 
"  a  white  blackbird,"  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  in  the  trance 
Hodgson  used  the  phrase,  *'  catch  me  and  you  catch  a 
white  crow." 

We  became  pretty  well  convinced  that  the  controls  and 
Mrs.  Piper  like  and  dislike  the  same  persons,  and  that  to 
some  degree  the  emotional  state  of  one  condition,  if  strong, 
persists  to  the  other. 

The  relation  of  the  two  states  to  each  other  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows :  on  the  spiritistic  hypothesis,  the  two 
statdb  are  mutually  and  totally  ignorant  of  each  other. 
We  were  unable  to  devise  any  tests  to  ascertain  whether  the 
normal  self  is  really  totally  amnesic  as  regards  the  control, 
but  we  did  find  the  control  sometimes  over-ignorant  of  the 
normal  self,  while  in  some  cases  he  betrayed  anxiety  as  to 
the  concerns  of  the  normal  self;  that  he  showed  similar 
emotions  with  regard  to  the  same  people ;  and  that  in  a  few 
cases  he  unconsciously  betrayed  a  memory  of  events  in  the 
life  of  the  normal  self.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the 
control's  amnesia  is  not  complete  of  the  normal  self,  and 
that  the  two  selves  have  at  least  a  common  emotional  char- 
acter. We  cannot  state  exactly  how  far  these  common  feel- 
ings extend,  but  we  may  make  a  few  inferences  from  the 
reactions  to  the  lists  of  words  given  to  the  control  and  the 
normal  Mrs.  Piper. 

On  the  Jung-Freud  theory  there  is  a  certain  normal 
length  of  time — 1.5-2.5  seconds — taken  in  reacting  to  a 
word.  A  lengthened  reaction  shows  some  emotion  roused 
by  the  word,  and  if  the  word  given  in  reaction  is  associ- 
ated superficially,  it  indicates  suppression  of  the  real  feel- 
ing roused.  For  instance,  if  synonyms,  puns,  or  soimd 
associations  are  employed,  they  are  superficial  in  character, 
and  indicate  a  feeling  which  is  concealed. 

Again,  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Piper,  if  the  separation  be- 
tween the  control  and  Mrs.  Piper  is  really  complete,  as  the 
control  asserts,  if  the  control  is  really  a  man's  spirit,  his 

23 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

reactions  will  be  quite  different  from  hers,  especially  on 
the  feeling  side. 

Accordingly,  we  made  out  our  lists  of  words  in  order  to 
bring  out  any  such  differences,  if  they  existed.  Our  groups 
were  as  follows : 

1.  Words  which  might  be  referred  to  sex.  Out  of  our 
first  list  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen  words  nineteen  might 
be  put  into  this  class,  but  fourteen  of  them  were  ambigu- 
ous, e.  g.,  such  as  figure,  lips,  dress. 

2.  Words  bearing  upon  operations  and  sickness,  twelve 
in  number,  or  thirteen,  if  "  blood  "  is  included  here. 

3.  Words  relating  to  spiritualism,  trance,  unconscious- 
ness, twelve  in  number, 

4.  A  group  centring  about  women's  occupations,  de- 
signed to  bring  out  any  characteristically  masculine  re- 
actions. 

5.  A  small  group  bearing  on  tragedy,  and  words  in- 
serted as  filling  or  to  get  indifferent  reactions. 

(See  appendix  for  these  lists.) 

At  first  blush  the  reactions  of  the  control  and  the  nor- 
mal do  not  seem  to  have  much  in  common,  since  the  same 
word  is  given  in  very  few  cases,  but  if  we  grant,  as  we  do, 
considerable  amnesia,  this  is  only  to  be  expected.  Examina- 
tion of  the  words  bearing  on  feminine  occupations  shows, 
however,  that  there  are  no  characteristic  differences  in  the 
reactions  of  the  control  and  the  normal,  such  as  we  should 
expect  with  a  spirit  that  bangs  about  in  the  noisy  fashion 
of  the  control.  Again,  in  the  group  of  words  bearing  on 
operation,  every  word  which  has  a  long  reaction  in  the  nor- 
mal state  has  a  superficial  reaction  from  the  control,  which 
indicates  suppressed  feeling.  And,  finally,  the  same  thing 
occurs  with  regard  to  the  words  referable  to  sex:  those 
with  long  or  no  reactions  in  the  normal  state  have  long  or 
superficial  reactions  in  nearly  every  ease  with  the  control. 

This  shows  that  the  control  and  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper 
have  approximately  the  same  feeling  background  with  re- 

24 


MRS.    PIPER'S    DISCOVERY 

gard  to  these  three  groups  of  subjects,  although  character- 
istic differences  ought  to  appear  in  every  case  if  the  two  are 
really  distinct  personalities.  Our  original  conclusion,  that 
the  two  selves  have  at  least  a  conunon  emotional  character, 
is  therefore  considerably  strengthened  by  these  reactions, 
and  since  the  control  thus  reacts  to  test  words  he  must  have 
some  memory  of  the  events  associated  with  those  words. 
That  is,  the  control  must  have  memories  of  the  various 
operations  through  which  Mrs.  Piper  has  gone. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper  has  little 
remembrance  of  the  trance  state,  though  we  are  inclined  to 
assume  the  persistence  of  a  feeling  state  of  the  trance  into 
the  normal,  and  we  believe  that  events  occurring  in  the 
sitting  may  later  on  pop  up  in  the  waking  state,  just  as 
post-hypnotic  suggestions  seem  to  come  into  the  subject's 
mind  spontaneously.  On  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  the 
control  is  shifty  and  deceptive  on  occasion,  and  we  believe 
that  he  has  far  more  recollection  of  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper 
than  he  admits.  We  have  shown  that  he  has  the  same 
emotional  attitudes  in  various  cases,  we  have  found  the 
same  distinct  memories  in  a  few  instances,  and  we  are  con- 
fident that  if  he  were  sincere  we  should  find  more,  though 
probably  there  is  some  amnesia,  too.  That  is,  the  relation 
would  seem  to  be  somewhat  the  same  as  that  between  a 
secondary  personality  and  a  primary,  in  which  the  first 
has  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  second,  but  the  second 
has  some,  though  not  complete  knowledge  of  the  first. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY  TRANCES  AND  TRANCE  PERSONALITIES 

Let  us  first  summarise  briefly  Mrs.  Piper's  physical 
condition.  When  she  was  sixteen  years  old  she  was  struck 
by  an  ice  sled,  and  was  injured  internally  and  on  one  knee. 
Not  long  after  this  an  ovarian  tumor  developed.  In  1884, 
when  she  was  twenty-five  years  old,  her  first  child  was 
born,  and  her  second  one  sixteen  months  later.  Nine  years 
later,  in  the  spring  of  1893,  came  the  first  operation,  in 
which  the  diseased  Fallopian  tubes  and  ovaries  were  re- 
moved. In  1895  hernia  developed,  and  in  1896  another 
operation  was  necessary  to  remedy  this.  Since  then  her 
health  has  been  greatly  improved,  but  she  still  takes  un- 
usual care  of  herself,  as  if  she  feels  that  such  care  is  nec- 
essary in  order  for  her  to  remain  well. 

Shortly  after  the  birth  of  her  first  child  Mrs.  Piper's 
father-in-law,  who  was  a  Spiritualist,  persuaded  her  to  con- 
sult a  blind  medium,  Dr.  Cocke,  in  order  to  get  advice  as 
to  the  tumor  from  which  she  was  suffering.  At  this  sit- 
ting she  felt  twitchings  in  her  hands  and  feared  that  she 
might  become  unconscious,  and  at  the  second  sitting,  six 
weeks  after  her  child 's  birth,  the  medium  placed  his  hands 
on  her  head  and  she  did  become  unconscious,  seeing  as  she 
went  off  a  flood  of  light,  strange  faces,  and  a  hand  moving 
before  her.  She  had  seen  a  similar  flood  of  light  as  she 
was  fainting  from  the  effects  of  the  blow  from  the  ice  sled. 
She  had  several  other  sittings  with  Dr.  Cocke,  and  each 
time  was  controlled  by  Chlorine,  the  same  spirit  that  ap- 
peared at  first.  Then  came  a  period  when  many  controls 
appeared,    notable    characters    such    as    Luther,    Lincoln, 

26 


EARLY    TRANCES 

Washington,  Bach,  Commodore  Vanderbilt,  and  Loretta 
Pinchoni.  It  seems  that  Bach  "  formed  her  band  "  for 
Mrs.  Piper,  and  for  a  time  Chlorine  came  for  outside  sit- 
ters, and  Pinchoni,  Siddons,  and  others  for  family  seances. 
Dr.  Phinuit  also  came  from  the  first,  but  at  first  only  for 
medical  cases.  At  length  Bach  said  that  all  of  them  were 
going  to  concentrate  upon  Phinuit,  and  he  then  became  the 
chief  and  almost  the  only  control. 

Now,  Dr.  Cocke's  control  was  also  a  French  doctor, 
named  Albert  G.  Finnett  (pronounced  Finnee),  and  Mrs. 
Piper  met  this  control  in  her  visits  to  Dr.  Cocke.  Dr. 
Cocke's  Finnett,  however,  did  not  talk  or  act  like  Phinuit, 
but  it  is  asserted  by  Mr.  Piper,  Sr.,  that  he  is  undoubtedly 
the  same  person.  Indeed,  at  first,  he  said  that  he  was  per- 
mitted to  come  through  Mrs.  Piper,  referred  to  the  blind 
medium,  and  to  people  at  his  seances,  etc. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  the  early  days  to  find  whether 
Mrs.  Piper  had  heard  of  her  other  controls  at  these  seances. 
Mr.  Piper,  Sr.,  said  that  she  had  not ;  a  lady  who  sat  at  the 
same  time  as  Mrs.  Piper,  said  that  all  of  her  early  con- 
trols had  appeared  at  Dr.  Cocke's  seances  first,  but  later 
she  refused  to  make  any  written  statement  for  print.  This 
makes  it  seem  probable  that  Mrs.  Piper  was  really  uncon- 
sciously trained  by  Dr.  Cocke,  and  that  the  later  character- 
istics of  Phinuit  grew  slowly  in  accordance  with  the  sug- 
gestions from  the  sitters,  much  as  we  have  seen  them  do  in 
the  case  of  a  medium  to  be  described  later. 

On  the  other  hand,  Phinuit  himself  later,  in  1888,  de- 
nied that  he  had  ever  employed  any  other  medium  than 
Mrs.  Piper,  but  his  word  need  never  be  taken  at  its  face 
value. 

By  his  own  account  Dr.  Phinuit  is  a  French  physician, 
and  he  gave  to  Dr.  Hodgson  dates  of  his  birth,  death,  resi- 
dence, etc.,  none  of  which  could  be  verified  by  the  most 
diligent  search.  In  spite  of  French  being  his  native  tongue, 
Phinuit  had  forgotten  it,  save  a  few  very  common  phrases 

27 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

like  bon  jour  and  au  revoir.  He  failed  to  meet  any  tests 
of  his  personal  identity.  His  character  as  shown  in  the 
sittings  is  that  of  a  somewhat  coarse,  free-and-easy  person, 
vain,  and  addicted  to  boasting,  to  the  use  of  colloquial  and 
slangy  terms,  and  even  to  mild  oaths.  He  was  given  to 
evasions,  quibbles,  and  lies  in  order  to  make  himself  appear 
to  advantage.  He  was  always  boastfully  ready  to  meet  any 
test  suggested,  and  when  he  failed  notoriously,  as  happened 
repeatedly,  no  one  could  be  more  ingenious  in  framing 
excuses  than  he. 

Up  to  1893  Phinuit  played  the  part  of  chief  control. 
He  brought  the  spirits  of  the  departed  to  communicate 
with  their  living  friends,  delivered  their  messages  and  gave 
those  of  their  friends  back,  and  was  general  stage  manager. 
But  he  did  not  flourish  under  Dr.  Hodgson's  tutelage.  Dr. 
Hodgson  was  always  critical,  was  always  disclosing  his  de- 
ceits and  discounting  his  boasts,  was  always  disapproving 
of  him  in  one  way  or  another,  until  Phinuit  must  have  felt 
that  his  task  was  a  thankless  one.  Not  only  that,  but  Mrs. 
Piper  herself  says  that  she  never  liked  him,  and  that  she 
disliked  to  enter  the  trance  partly  because  she  hated  to 
think  that  he  had  possession  of  her.  He  did  possess  her 
more  fully  than  any  other  control,  causing  convulsions  in 
the  passage  to  and  from  the  trance,  and  speaking  as  well 
as  gesturing.  Mrs.  Piper  is  even  now  not  sure  just  what 
Phinuit  was,  but  knows  that  he  was  not  what  he  claimed 
to  be,  and  thinlvs  that  possibly  he  was  some  spirit  that 
never  was  in  the  body,  who  had  little  power  in  the  other 
world,  and  so  delighted  to  take  this  opportunity  to  become 
the  focus  of  attention  and  importance. 

In  spite  of  these  unpleasantnesses,  however,  Phinuit  re- 
mained in  chief  control  until  the  year  1892-93.  In 
February  of  1892,  "  George  Pelham,"  a  young  and  prom- 
inent lawyer,  a  friend  of  Hodgson's,  greatly  interested  in 
the  problem  of  personal  immortality,  died  suddenly  and 
accidentally.     Pelham  had  had  one  or  two  sittings  with 

28 


EARLY    TRANCES 

Mrs.  Piper  in  1888,  under  an  assumed  name,  and  had  often 
discussed  the  problem  of  immortality  with  Dr.  Hodgson. 
Mrs.  Piper  knew  about  his  death,  although  it  is  not  sup- 
posed that  she  knew  anything  about  Pelham  himself,  save 
through  some  casual  references  to  him  by  Hodgson.  This, 
however,  is  assumption,  and  since  he  was  rather  prominent, 
she  may  have  known  more  than  was  supposed. 

On  March  22d,  about  six  weeks  after  his  death,  reference 
was  made  to  Pelham  at  a  sitting  where  an  intimate  friend 
of  his  was  the  sitter,  and  Pelham 's  full  name  and  those 
of  some  of  his  friends  were  given.  He  appeared  inci- 
dentally at  two  or  three  other  sittings  and  then,  on  April 
11th,  controlled  the  medium  directly  instead  of  speaking 
through  Phinuit  as  before.  During  the  next  six  weeks  he 
frequently  came  for  part  of  the  sittings,  and  then  Mrs. 
Piper  went  away  for  the  summer.  In  the  fall  of  1892 
Pelham  was  the  control  through  fourteen  sittings  designed 
to  prove  his  personal  identity,  sometimes  speaking  and 
sometimes  writing,  with  Phinuit  always  at  hand  to  assist. 

Now,  during  this  time  Mrs.  Piper  was  going  through  a 
crisis  in  her  health,  especially  during  the  fall  and  winter 
of  1892-93,  when  the  series  of  fourteen  sittings  was 
being  held,  and  finally,  in  March,  1893,  she  underwent  the 
first  operation,  at  which  the  tumor,  with  the  Fallopian 
tubes  and  ovaries,  was  removed,  so  that  we  have  here  the 
question  of  how  far  the  development  of  Pelham  was  aided 
by  Mrs.  Piper's  poor  health. 

Pelham  and  Phinuit  continued  to  be  the  dominating 
controls  until  1895-97,  when  again  Mrs.  Piper's  health 
was  unsettled  and  she  was  obliged  early  in  1896  to  undergo 
another  operation,  this  time  for  hernia. 

During  the  fall  of  1895  and  the  winter  of  1896  she 
gave  few  sittings,  and  none  after  the  operation  until  the 
fall  of  1896.  But  in  Jime  of  1895  Professor  Newbold  had 
introduced  the  subject  of  Stainton  Moses,  asking  Pelham 
for  information  about  him,  and  two  or  three  days  later 

29 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Moses  himself  appeared.  Moses  was  while  alive  a  prom- 
inent English  Spiritualist,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research,  and  Mrs.  Piper,  it  seems, 
had  read  an  account  of  his  life  given  her  by  Dr.  Hodgson. 
He  had  been  controlled  while  alive  by  certain  spirits  call- 
ing themselves  Imperator,  Rector,  Doctor,  and  Prudens, 
and  in  November  and  December  of  1896,  when  Mrs.  Piper 
resumed  her  sittings  after  the  operation,  Moses  and  these 
controls  appeared,  and  finally  in  January,  1897,  made  the 
demand  of  Hodgson  that  he  should  give  them  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Piper  case.  They  said  that  she  was  a  much- 
battered  machine,  and  that  much  of  the  difficulty  in  the 
sittings  came  from  the  fact  that  inferior  spirits  came  in- 
discriminately. They,  on  the  other  hand,  would  take  great 
care  of  her,  patch  up  the  machine  and  make  it  last  as  long 
as  possible.  Pelham  urged  that  this  transfer  should  be 
made,  and  so  Phinuit,  although  rather  unwilling,  was  re- 
tired in  some  disgrace,  making  his  last  appearance  January 
26,  1897.  Pelham  also  retired,  but  in  the  honourable  char- 
acter of  control  emeritus,  and  occasionally  he  still  appears, 
just  to  show  that  he  is  still  alive  and  that  the  feeling  is 
friendly. 

Since  then  until  Hodgson 's  death  in  1905  the  Imperator 
group  had  full  control,  and,  indeed,  still  has,  ostensibly. 
But  shortly  after  Hodgson's  death  his  spirit  appeared  at  a 
sitting,  and  by  degrees  he  has  become  practically  the  dom- 
inating spirit.  Here  again  there  may  be  a  physical  basis 
facilitating  the  change  in  the  approach  of  the  climacteric, 
which  has  definite  characteristics  even  when  some  of  the 
sex  organs  have  been  removed,  as  in  this  case.  The  psychic 
occasion  was,  of  course.  Dr.  Hodgson's  death. 

Podmore  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  since  1900 
the  messages  received  through  Mrs.  Piper  have  had  little 
evidential  value  or  interest.  I  should  push  this  back  even 
further  and  say  that  even  the  famous  Hyslop  sittings, 
which  occurred  in  1898-99,  are  inexpressibly  trivial  and 

30 


EARLY    TRANCES 

stupid,  and  that  the  marked  improvement  in  Mrs.  Piper's 
health,  dating:  from  the  operation  for  hernia  in  1896,  was 
also  the  beginning  of  a  steady  deterioration  in  the  sittings 
until  the  onset  of  the  climacteric.  I  would  almost  venture 
to  prophesy  that  after  the  climacteric  the  sittings  will  again 
deteriorate  and  that  this  time  they  will  never  again  be- 
come interesting  unless  Mrs.  Piper  is  subjected  to  some 
great  shock.  That  is,  the  facts  in  the  case  seem  to  point 
to  the  theory  that  the  mediumistic  power  is  encouraged 
and  perhaps  in  the  beginning  caused  by  nervous  shock, 
which,  in  persons  of  a  certain  diathesis,  tends  to  split  the 
personality. 

We  have  then  four  distinct  sets  of  controls:  Phinuit, 
from  1886  to  1893 ;  Pelham,  1893  to  1896 ;  the  Imperator 
group,  1896  to  1905 ;  Hodgson,  1905  to  the  present.  Os- 
tensibly these  four  groups  are  very  dift'erent  in  character. 
Phinuit  was  coarse,  rude,  shifty,  deceitful,  and  almost  if 
not  quite  a  quack;  Pelham  assumed  to  be  a  cultured  man 
of  the  world,  broad,  keen,  and  polished;  the  Imperator 
group  claim  to  be  spirits  who  are  solemn,  prayerful — we 
might  even  say  pious — and  authoritative;  while  Hodgson 
assumes  to  be  like  the  living  Hodgson.  These  differences 
are  readily  referable  to  the  knowledge  of  the  originals  pos- 
sessed by  Mrs.  Piper  and  the  control.  Phinuit,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  was  borrowed  from  Dr.  Cocke,  and  resembled 
the  control  of  the  ordinaiy  medium  very  closely.  When 
he  was  taken  in  hand  by  Hodgson,  his  personality  was 
already  well  developed  along  these  lines,  and  as  far  as  we 
can  judge  from  the  published  records  no  attempt  was  ever 
made  to  modify  his  characteristics  by  suggestion. 

Pelham,  however,  on  his  casual  appearance  was  warmly 
welcomed,  and  encouraged  to  remain  and  to  prove  his  iden- 
tity along  lines  laid  down  entirely  by  Hodgson.  He  de- 
veloped in  the  directions  which  Hodgson  and  his  other 
friends  desired,  and  his  extreme  sensitiveness  to  suggestion 
is  shown  in  the  ability  to  recognise  Pelham 's  friends,  to 

31 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

pick  up  some  of  Pelham's  phrases,  etc.  If  only  the  records 
of  these  sittings  were  complete  they  would  prove  one  of 
the  most  interesting  studies  in  the  entire  series,  as  showing 
the  suggestibility  of  the  control  and  the  amount  of  informa- 
tion involuntarily  given  by  the  sitters.  Unfortunately,  no 
full  reports  were  published,  and  so  they  cannot  have  evi- 
dential value  and  are  not  taken  up  in  any  detail  in  this 
study. 

The  Imperator  group  derived  their  characteristics  from 
the  account  of  Moses's  life  read  by  Mrs.  Piper,  and  at  first 
were  much  more  in  evidence  than  later  on,  discoursing  at 
considerable  length,  praying,  etc.  But  they  found  that  the 
sitters  did  not  care  much  for  these  things,  and  so  by  de- 
grees they  became  mere  stage  managers,  their  personalities 
became  less  and  less  in  evidence,  and  they  degenerated  into 
convenient  excuses  by  which  to  explain  difficulties  in  com- 
municating. At  present,  were  it  not  for  the  opening  greet- 
ing and  closing  benediction,  one  would  never  suspect  their 
presence  save  when  the  control  desires  some  authority  or 
excuse. 

Little  systematic  attempt  has  been  made  to  prove  the 
identity  of  these  spirits,  the  one  attempt  Moses  made  to 
give  the  true  names  of  his  controls  being  an  ignominious 
failure. 

Similarly,  the  impersonation  of  Hodgson  has  been  little 
tested,  partly  because  the  chief  investigators  are  now  well 
convinced  that  spirits  do  actually  return,  and  partly  be- 
cause it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  Hodgson  to  give 
any  satisfactory  proof  of  his  identity,  since  he  was  so  well 
known  to  Mrs.  Piper.  Any  information  given  or  assump- 
tion of  Hodgson's  characteristics  could  always  be  referred 
to  Mrs.  Piper's  personal  knowledge  of  Hodgson.  Whether 
this  control  is  really  Hodgson  or  is  an  impostor,  therefore, 
we  should  expect  a  pretty  good  impersonation,  since  both 
the  normal  Mrs.  Piper  and  the  trance  personalities  had 
been  dealing  with  Hodgson  for  over  twenty  years.     But> 

32 


EARLY    TRANCES 

curiously  enough,  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case  in  our 
sittings,  or  in  the  published  sittings  since  Hodgson's  death. 
We  found,  first  of  all,  that  the  Hodgson  control  claimed 
to  be  totally  ignorant  of  Mrs.  Piper,  whom  he  had  known 
so  intimately  and  in  whom  he  was  so  greatly  interested; 
in  the  second  place,  on  Dr.  Hall's  suggestion,  he  claimed 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Hall,  recalled  incidents 
referred  to  by  Dr.  Hall,  etc.,  although  in  fact  he  never 
knew  Dr.  Hall  personally ;  in  the  third  place,  he  never  gave 
one  single  evidential  sentence  showing  that  he  had  any 
knowledge  of  his  experiments  with  the  Watseka  Wonder, 
or  of  Davis,  Abbott,  etc.  (See  Sitting  1.)  All  his  remarks 
are  extremely  general,  and  where  definite  knowledge  is 
shown  it  is  at  once  referable  either  to  Mrs.  Piper's  own 
knowledge  or  to  a  previous  sitting.^ 

That  is,  the  Hodgson  control,  like  the  others,  seems  to 
be  the  result  of  suggestion  and  expectation.  The  Psychical 
Researchers  and  Mrs.  Piper  expected  him  to  appear  after 
Hodgson's  death;  they  knew  certain  obvious  characteris- 
tics of  Hodgson's,  which  appeared  in  the  control,  and  they 
believed  in  him,  or  acted  as  if  they  did,  from  the  begin- 
ning, thus  encouraging  him  to  continue.  They  also  ac- 
cepted with  little  or  no  question  his  right  to  assume  the 
management  of  Mrs.  Piper  on  that  side,  as  he  had  on  this, 
so  that  his  confidence  in  himself  grew  rapidly  and  has  had 
no  such  setbacks  and  cold  water  as  Phinuit  and  even  Pel- 
ham  received.  In  their  sittings,  furthermore,  the  Hodg- 
son control  is  not  entirely  disrupted  from  the  Imperator 
group.  He  receives  directions  from  them,  and  obtains  in- 
formation, and  has  from  the  beginning  known  and  carried 
out  the  general  theory  of  the  conditions  of  the  sittings 
which  has  gradually  grown  up  in  the  interactions  between 
the  various  controls  and  the  investigators.  From  this  point 
of  view  the  Hodgson  control  seems  to  be  a  grafting  upon 

1  Cf.  also  Professor  James's  opinion  of  the  Hodgson  control,  pp.  83 
and  84. 

33 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  Imperator  group.  He  is  nourished  by  their  sap,  but  he 
has  imported  certain  new  traits  that  make  a  Hodgsonesque 
fruit.  His  present  conviction  that  he  is  Hodgson  is  too 
strongly  intrenched  by  his  years  of  unquestioned  suprem- 
acy to  be  destroyed  in  the  course  of  a  few  sittings,  but  on 
all  other  points  save  this  he  is  most  suggestible  and  even 
amorphous.  This  conviction  may  well  be  genuine,  but  has 
itself  come  as  the  result  of  constant  encouragement. 

We  can  see  this  encouragement  and  its  effects  in  all  the 
various  groups  which  have  possessed  Mrs.  Piper.  When 
she  first  went  into  a  trance  she  was  living  at  her  father- 
in-law's,  and  he  was  a  Spiritist.  Dr.  Cocke  and  he  at 
once  interpreted  the  trance  as  spirit  possession,  and  urged 
her  to  repetitions  of  it.  When  Phinuit  appeared,  great  im- 
portance was  attached  to  his  medical  diagnoses,  and  he 
was  highly  respected  until  Dr.  Hodgson  repeatedly  detected 
him  in  falsehood.  Even  then  there  is  nothing  in  the  re- 
ports to  show  that  his  actual  existence  as  a  disembodied 
spirit  was  questioned,  but  only  that  he  was  the  particular 
person  he  claimed  to  be.  The  tacit  assumption  was  that 
he  was  a  real  existence.  So  with  Pelham,  although  he  was 
severely  questioned  as  to  his  personal  identity,  the  constant 
suggestion  from  beginning  to  end  was  that  he  was  some 
identity,  and  the  same  was  true  of  the  Imperator  group 
and  much  more  of  Hodgson. 

Now  if,  when  the  trance  state  first  appeared,  and  the 
first  varying  and  amorphous  personalities  showed  them- 
selves, Mrs.  Piper  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Prince  or 
of  Sidis,  instead  of  being  with  Spiritists,  what  might 
have  been  the  result?  These  personalities  were  by  no 
means  as  well  developed  in  her  at  that  time  as  Miss  Beau- 
champ 's  various  selves  were  when  she  went  to  Prince,  and 
we  can  readily  conceive  that  if  Mrs.  Piper  had  had  these 
manifestations  explained  to  her  as  symptoms  of  a  divided 
self,  and  had  gone  through  some  such  course  of  discour- 
agement of  them  and  persuasions  of  them  to  psychic  sui- 

34 


EARLY    TRANCES 

cide  as  Miss  Beauchamp  did,  the  result  would  have  been 
the  same;  the  personalities  would  have  faded  away  into 
nothingness.  So  suggestible  are  the  controls  that  I  cannot 
escape  the  conviction  that  if  even  now,  after  twenty-three 
years  of  development,  I\lrs.  Piper  could  be  isolated  from 
spiritistic  influences  and  the  controls  systematically  dis- 
couraged, they  could  be  finally  united  to  the  normal  Mrs. 
Piper  and  so  lose  their  separate  existence. 

To  such  theories  the  Spiritists  are  quick  to  reply  that 
such  cases  as  Miss  Beauchamp  prove  nothing  except  that 
she  was  subjected  to  conditions  adverse  to  spirit  communi- 
cation, that  she  really  had  mediumistic  powers,  but  that 
they  were  killed  by  her  course  of  treatment.  If  this  means 
anything  it  means  that  the  abnormal  conditions  leading  to 
double  personality  are  the  conditions  for  mediumship. 
We  can  choose  then  between  saying  that  all  cases  of  sec- 
ondary personality  are  mediums,  or  that  all  mediums  have 
tendencies  to  secondary  personality. 

If,  however,  there  is  real  spirit  communication,  surely 
the  spirits  ought  not  to  be  so  wholly  the  outcome  of  sug- 
gestion as  we  have  shown.  Moreover,  if  the  Hodgson  con- 
trol is  the  person  he  claims  to  be,  he  ought  not  to  be 
constantly  caught,  as  he  was  by  us,  in  evasions  and  actual 
deceptions.  The  living  Hodgson  was  notably  honest  and 
sincere,  but  this  impersonation  of  him  is  anything  but  that. 
He  displays  all  the  characteristics  that  Hodgson  so  disliked 
in  Phinuit. 

The  Spiritists,  therefore,  constantly  force  us  back  to  the 
content  of  the  messages  as  proving  spirit  communication. 
As  I  understand  it,  they  do  not  deny  that  perhaps  the 
medium  is  abnormal,  or  that  her  powers  may  be  destroyed 
by  medical  treatment.  Their  point  is  that  while  in  this 
abnormal  condition  she  gives  evidence  of  supernormal 
knowledge.  They  do  not  deny  that  the  controls  are  fre- 
quently shifty  and  deceitful,  but  maintain  that  even  when 
they  are  they  also  give  messages  that  cannot  be  referred  to 

35 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  medium,  the  sitter,  or  any  living  person  as  their  source. 
Personally  they  believe  that  some,  if  not  most,  of  the  con- 
trols are  genuine,  that  they  have  gone  far  toward  proving 
their  personal  identity,  and  that  their  advice  is  frequently 
more  valuable  than  that  of  living  friends,  but  the  fair- 
minded  among  them  admit  that  none  of  these  phases  have 
as  yet  been  so  scientifically  tested  as  to  compel  assent  from 
any  unprejudiced  person,  or,  if  they  have  been  so  tested, 
they  have  not  been  published.  They  press  back,  therefore, 
to  the  test  message,  and  upon  it  they  rest  their  claim  that 
spirit  communication  is  being  scientifically  demonstrated. 
Let  us  consider,  then,  what  sort  of  information  we  may 
reasonably  expect  a  disembodied  spirit  to  give  us,  and  to 
what  sort  of  tests  we  may  subject  both  the  message  and 
the  spirit- 
Leaving  aside  the  somewhat  fantastic  speculations  of 
Schiller  ^  on  the  future  life,  we  may  say,  first  of  all,  that 
messages  giving  accounts  of  that  life  can  never  be  evidential 
because  we  have  no  way  of  testing  their  truth.  We  are  at 
once  forced,  therefore,  to  say  that  the  only  way  spirit  com- 
munication can  be  proved  is  by  proving  the  personal  iden- 
tity of  the  communicating  spirit.  How  can  this  be  done 
best? 

On  this  point  there  has  been  no  little  discussion,  and 
even  now  there  is  no  general  agreement.  The  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  as  represented  by  those  who  have 
worked  chiefly  with  Mrs.  Piper,  has,  however,  gone  upon  the 
assumption  that  this  may  be  done  best  by  telling  to  the 
sitter  events  in  the  spirit's  life. 

1.  Best  of  all  is  information  unknown  to  any  living 
person,  but  verifiable  by  the  sitter  after  it  is  told  by  the 
spirit.  Under  this  head  falls  the  case  of  the  spirit  telling 
the  contents  of  a  letter  which  he  wrote  while  still  alive, 
sealed,  and  kept  unknown  to  any  one  else,  to  be  opened  only 

1  F.  C.  S.  Schiller,  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search, vol.  XV,  1900-1,  pp.  53-65. 

36 


EARLY    TRANCES 

after  he  had  returned  in  the  spirit  and  told  its  contents. 
Various  letters  of  this  sort  have  been  written  by  members 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  and  deposited  in  its 
archives,  there  to  be  kept  until  the  spirit  returns.  In  some 
instances,  such  as  that  of  Mr.  Myers,  the  spirit  has  claimed 
to  have  returned  and  has  given  the  contents  of  the  letter, 
but  it  has  never  been  correct,  and  in  some  instances  has 
been  a  notable  failure,  as  in  the  Hannah  Wilde  case,  which 
I  shall  describe  later.  Under  this  head  also  would  come 
eases  in  which  the  spirit  tells  where  a  valuable  paper  or 
some  other  object  is  hidden. 

2.  A  very  good  test  is  supplied  if  information  is  given 
known  only  to  the  spirit  and  one  or  two  living  people,  pref- 
erably not  the  sitter,  if  these  people  are  inaccessible  to  the 
medium.  Such  cases  are  claimed  not  to  be  uncommon  in 
the  Piper  case,  but  the  advocates  of  telepathy  maintain 
that  they  in  nowise  prove  spirit  communication,  since  the 
knowledge  might  have  been  given  telepathically  to  the  me- 
dium by  the  persons  knowing  it,  especially  if  the  person 
knowing  it  is  the  sitter.  This  argument  we  will  take  up  in 
detail  later,  but  here  will  merely  note  that  for  many  peo- 
ple this  forms  a  good  test. 

3.  If  the  spirit  was  unknown  to  the  medium,  and  yet 
uses  his  own  characteristic  phrases,  words,  inflections,  etc., 
it  creates  a  presumption  that  he  is  the  person  he  claims  to 
be,  although  it  does  not  prove  his  identity. 

4.  If  he  constantly  refers  to  incidents  known  both  to 
himself  and  the  sitter,  and  does  not  describe  incidents  which 
did  not  occur,  even  if  these  incidents  were  known  to  other 
people,  they  create  a  presumption,  as  they  become  more 
numerous,  that  he  is  the  person  he  claims  to  be. 

5.  Of  less  value  than  any  of  these  is  the  spirit's  ability 
to  assume  the  same  attitude  as  when  living  with  regard  to 
the  great  questions  of  morality,  religion,  etc.,  since  these 
attitudes  are  easily  describable  and  are  common  to  many 
persons.     The  fact  that  a  certain  spirit  is  an  ardent  Pres- 

37 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

byterian,  and  that  the  person  he  claims  to  be  was  also, 
really  proves  nothing  whatever,  for  there  are  so  many 
ardent  Presbyterians  both  dead  and  alive  that  the  coinci- 
dence might  easily  be  just  a  lucky  guess. 

This  theory  that  personal  identity  is  best  proved  by  the 
trivial  and  characteristic  incidents  in  a  man's  life,  espe- 
cially if  they  are  known  to  no  or  few  living  people,  has 
been  worked  out  at  considerable  length  by  Hyslop,^  and 
was  tested  by  him  as  follows.  First  he  selected  two  per- 
sons, one  to  play  the  part  of  sitter  and  the  other  that  of 
spirit,  the  spirit's  task  being  to  prove  his  identity,  the  sit- 
ter having  no  notion  who  he  was.  Sitter  and  spirit  then 
sent  messages  to  each  other,  until  the  sitter  was  confident 
of  the  spirit's  identity.  The  messages  sent  by  the  spirit 
were  written  by  Hyslop,  imitating  as  far  as  possible  the 
mode  of  procedure  in  Mrs.  Piper's  trances,  and  in  some  in- 
stances were  carefully  graded  from  more  general  to  more 
specific  statements,  in  order  to  see  just  how  specific  the 
information  must  be  before  the  sitter  is  confident  of  the 
spirit's  identity.  In  some  instances  characteristic  phrases 
were  used.  It  is  very  curious  to  see  on  what  slight  evi- 
dence the  sitter  often  identifies  the  spirit  with  confidence. 

At  the  same  time  the  real  question  is  not  touched  at  all 
in  any  such  experiments.  Hyslop  assumes  to  begin  with 
that  communication  with  disearnate  spirits  is  possible  and 
that  the  investigator's  problem  is  only  to  find  out  how  it 
is  established,  whereas  in  fact  the  investigator  has  no  right 
to  assume  the  presence  of  any  disearnate  personality  at  all 
until  he  has  exhausted  all  possible  explanations  by  means 
of  incarnate  personalities.  In  Hyslop 's  experiments  the 
sitter  knew  certainly  that  the  one  sending  the  message  was 
alive,  and  that  he  was  at  least  an  acquaintance  and  prob- 
ably a  friend,  and  so  his  range  of  guesses  was  greatly  lim- 
ited.    Further,  he  knew  that  no  great  issue  was  involved 

1  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xvi,  1901. 
See  Index. 

38 


EARLY    TRANCES 

in  his  guesses,  and  so  he  guessed  quickly  and  grew  confi- 
dent easily.  But  the  investigator  receiving  spirit  messages 
from  a  medium  must  keep  in  mind  two  things  which  throw 
the  burden  of  proof  entirely  on  the  spirits :  iirst,  that  even 
if  we  accept  all  the  supposedly  authentic  messages  received 
from  the  other  world  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present, 
they  are  infinitesimally  few  as  compared  with  the  vast 
number  of  souLs  in  that  other  world,  and  are  usually  am- 
biguous in  form ;  and,  secondly,  that  as  knowledge  has 
advanced  the  powers  and  phenomena  once  attributed  to  dis- 
carnate  spirits  are  being  increasingly  and  constantly  ex- 
plained through  the  laws  either  of  physical  nature  or  of 
the  human  mind.  The  whole  psychological  presumption, 
that  is,  is  that  messages  received  through  any  medium  are 
in  some  way  the  product  of  the  medium's  mind  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  sitter's,  and  the  problem  as  the  psychologist 
sees  it  is  to  describe  the  various  mental  processes  which 
have  given  rise  to  the  message.  If  he  is  able  to  do  this 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  even  if  some  messages  still 
remain  unexplained,  he  considers  himself  justified  in 
assuming  that  in  time  they,  too,  will  be  shown  to  fall  under 
the  same  law,  and  in  condemning  any  premature  assump- 
tion of  new  forces  which  subvert  all  our  present  ideas  of 
law.  He  does  not  deny  the  possibility  of  such  forces,  but 
he  will  not  assume  them  in  order  to  explain  relatively  few 
and  imperfectly  tested  phenomena. 

Let  us  consider  then  the  character  of  the  Piper  messages 
in  general,  as  measured  by  the  tests  laid  down  by  the  most 
prominent  believers  in  them. 

Unfortunately,  throughout  the  reports  as  published  by 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  we  are  told  not  infre- 
quently that  those  portions  of  the  messages  which  best 
prove  the  identity  of  the  spirits  cannot  be  published  be- 
cause the  contents  are  of  so  private  and  confidential  a  char- 
acter. This  leaves  the  student  in  a  most  embarrassing  po- 
sition.   On  the  one  hand,  he  feels  that  he  is  unable  to  pass 

39 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

a  reliable  judgment  when  he  has  only  part  of  the  data 
before  him ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  feels  that  those  publish- 
ing the  accounts  of  the  seances  have  no  right  to  ask  him 
to  believe  in  Spiritism  on  the  basis  of  facts  convincing  to 
themselves  but  unknown  to  him.  If  they  are  ever  to  dem- 
onstrate Spiritism,  they  can  do  it  only  on  the  basis  of  the 
facts  known  to  everyone.  No  reasonable  man  asks  for  belief 
in  his  experiments  until  he  publishes  them  in  full.  The  stu- 
dent is  therefore  put  under  the  unpleasant  necessity,  how- 
ever great  may  be  his  confidence  in  the  individual  members 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  of  disregarding  this 
plea  for  faith,  and  of  judging  the  phenomena  in  the  Piper 
case  solely  upon  the  basis  of  the  facts  published.  He  does 
not  at  all  deny  that  the  unpublished  facts  may  be  stronger 
than  the  others,  but  he  feels  justified  in  saying  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  expected  to  be  convincing  as  long  as  they 
are  unknown.  We  ignore,  therefore,  the  unpublished 
portions. 

In  the  published  seances  the  investigators  themselves 
frankly  admit  that  a  large  part,  perhaps  the  major  part, 
is  nonsense  or  self-evident  fact.  Another  large  part  is 
equally  evidently  obtained  by  fishing  from  the  sitter. 

How  are  we  to  explain  all  this  if  the  controls  are  really 
spirits?  Hyslop  works  this  out  in  increasingly  ingenious 
ways.  Some  of  the  nonsense,  as  when  his  father's  spirit 
asks  some  one  to  give  him  his  hat,  he  thinks  is  automatic 
speech,  a  habit  left  over  from  this  life,  into  which  discar- 
nate  spirits  may  fall,  just  as  we  mortals  sometimes  find 
meaningless  fragments  of  speech,  song,  etc.,  coming  to  our 
lips  when  we  are  occupied  with  other  things.  Some  of  the 
nonsense,  again,  comes  simply  from  the  inability  to  read 
the  automatic  writing,  which  is  very  illegible.  Some,  and 
probably  most,  is  referable  to  the  difficulty  the  spirits  have 
in  using  the  medium.  Hyslop  believes  that  just  as  the 
medium  has  to  go  into  a  trance  state  on  this  side,  so  the 
spirit  has  to  go  into  something  like  the  same  stata  on  that 

40 


EARLY    TRANCES 

side,  and  that  the  messages  which  we  get  may  be  compared 
to  the  talk  of  dreamers  or  even  the  ravings  of  delirium. 
Or,  perhaps  the  spirits  are  not  in  a  trance,  but  something 
about  the  conditions  under  which  they  communicate  makes 
consecutive  thought  difficult.  In  his  seances,  every  now  and 
then  Hyslop's  father  cries  out  that  he  is  suffocating,  and 
must  go  away  for  a  little  while  until  he  is  recovered  suf- 
ficiently to  communicate  again. 

Our  own  experience  with  the  controls  was  so  radically 
different  from  this  that  we  cannot  accept  Hyslop  's  explana- 
tion. In  the  first  place,  our  systematic  endeavour  was  to 
keep  cool  and  go  slow,  and  we  succeeded  save  in  one  sit- 
ting, the  result  being  that  the  controls  also  went  slowly, 
and  there  was  little  confusion  or  haste  save  in  the  one 
sitting.  We  read  the  writing  as  it  was  written,  and  kept 
such  close  tab  on  it  that  after  the  first  sitting  there  were 
few  illegible  words,  so  that  practically  none  of  the  non- 
sense could  come  from  that  source. 

Again,  Hyslop  refers  much  of  the  nonsense  to  the  dif- 
ficulty which  the  controls  have  in  using  the  medium,  and 
his  father's  spirit  complains  of  suffocation,  etc.  Here  an 
interesting  question  as  to  spirit  consciousness  arises.  Could 
the  spirits  be  having  great  difficulty  in  controlling  the  me- 
dium without  knowing  that  they  were  having  difficulty? 
To  judge  by  the  reports,  they  do  know  in  many  cases,  be- 
cause they  complain  bitterly  of  it.  But  in  our  sittings, 
from  beginning  to  end  there  were  no  such  complaints,  and 
the  spirits  were  blithely  unconscious  that  most  of  the  time 
they  were  talking  nonsense.  This,  we  believe,  is  because 
we  gave  them  no  hint  that  they  were  making  themselves 
ridiculous,  and  they  did  not  know  enough  to  discover  it 
without  help.  In  Hyslop's  sittings  and  in  most  of  the 
other  published  sittings  where  such  complaints  occur  the 
controls  were  made  aware  in  some  way  that  they  were  not 
coming  up  to  the  required  standards,  and  then  they  began 
to  complain  and  to  interpose  various  subsidiary  spirits 
6  41 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

between  the  sitter  and  the  one  giving  the  messages.  That 
is,  to  state  it  very  baldly,  these  difficulties  are  excuses  given 
by  the  controls  for  their  failures,  excuses  which  in  most 
instances  were  first  invented  in  the  fertile  brain  of  some 
sitter  and  suggested  to  the  control. 

The  fishing  also  may  be  explained  in  different  ways. 
Phinuit's  fishing  meets  with  little  but  condemnation,  as 
the  doctor  was  at  least  not  the  person  he  claimed  to  be, 
and  did  not  therefore  meet  with  approval  from  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research.  But  when  Pelham  and  Hyslop, 
Sr.,  and  other  spirits  ask  questions  it  is  assumed  that  they 
do  so  oftentimes  because  they  really  want  the  latest  news 
from  their  families,  and  in  part  because  they  want  cor- 
roboration, sympathy,  etc.  So  strong  is  this  need  of  sym- 
pathy if  successful  results  are  to  be  obtained,  that  these 
investigators  have  made  it  a  cardinal  principle  in  their 
own  studies  to  adopt  a  sympathetic  and  trustful  attitude, 
and  they  insist  upon  it  more  and  more  with  other  sitters. 
Taciturnity,  reserve,  cautiousness,  not  to  say  distrust,  so 
hurt  the  feelings  of  the  spirits  and  affect  their  memories 
that  a  sitter  displaying  these  qualities  is  not  likely  to  get 
any  interesting  results.  Now,  all  this,  of  course,  gives  the 
control  a  better  opportunity  to  fish,  and  his  chances  of 
success  get  better  in  proportion  as  the  same  sitter  continues, 
because  he  learns  what  his  inflections  and  movements 
mean.  This  is  pre-eminently  the  case  with  Mrs.  Piper's 
control.  His  most  successful  results  are  obtained  with 
those  who  come  for  three  or  more  sittings.  Not  infre- 
quently the  first  sittings  are  blanks  so  far  as  any  valuable 
results  are  concerned. 

Of  course,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Spiritists  answer  that 
this  is  just  what  should  be  expected.  When  a  new  sitter 
comes,  and  Imperator  seeks  out  his  deceased  relatives  and 
tries  to  put  him  into  communication  with  them,  the  sitter 
is  unable  at  first  to  read  the  writing,  and  the  spirits  find 
it  hard  to  work  through  the  medium's  body.     There  is 

42 


EARLY    TRANCES 

confusion  of  mind  on  both  sides.  But  as  the  spirits  be- 
come more  conscious  of  what  is  wanted  of  them  they 
become  more  coherent,  and  if  the  sitter  perseveres  for  ten 
or  twelve  or  more  sittings  he  may  become  quite  convinced 
that  he  is  talking-  in  truth  with  dead  friends.  This  may 
be  true,  but  it  is  at  least  unfortunate  that  the  same  con- 
ditions which  favour  spirit  communication  also  favour 
fishing. 

It  is  also  a  curious  and  interesting  fact  that  literally 
everything  is  fish  that  comes  into  the  control's  net.  We 
let  the  control  fish.  We  fairly  exuded  ideas  from  every 
pore,  giving  our  fancies  free  play,  and  he  took  up  our 
fancies  as  facts  and  brought  before  us  the  spirits  of  persons 
who  were  the  product  of  our  own  imagination,  and  only 
that.  How  could  an  honest  control  thus  create  a  spirit 
for  our  name,  or,  at  least,  play  off  some  other  spirit  as  a 
person  who  never  really  existed?  Nothing  could  so  have 
convinced  us  of  his  powers  surely,  as  for  him  to  tell  us 
the  truth,  viz.,  that  no  such  spirit  existed.  But  still  more 
curious  is  the  fact  that  the  control,  in  this  case  Hodgson, 
was  so  oblivious  of  his  relations  to  Dr.  Hall  while  alive 
as  to  accept  and  act  throughout  on  Dr.  Hall's  statement 
that  they  had  known  each  other  well,  the  actual  fact  being 
that  they  never  saw  each  other  but  once  and  had  very 
little  correspondence.  Hodgson  remembered  imaginary 
incidents  related  by  Dr.  Hall  and  added  details  of  his  own, 
and  all  with  the  greatest  ease,  not  with  the  difficulty  which 
he  would  have  experienced  if  he  were  trying  to  fit  some 
real  similar  experience  into  a  connection  with  Dr.  Hall, 
where  it  never  belonged,  but  where  he  was  made  to  believe 
that  it  did  through  our  insistence.  There  was  no  insistence 
on  our  part,  nothing  but  a  reference,  which  the  control 
took  up  eagerly. 

That  is,  to  state  merely  the  fact  without  any  attempt  at 
explanation,  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  mistakes 
which  the  control  will  make  if  the  sitter  assumes  a  sympa- 

43 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM  \ 

thetic  and  encouraging  attitude,  and  a  considerable  part 
of  the  content  of  our  sittings  consists  of  mistakes  of  this 
sort. 

Many  of  the  published  sittings  are  taken  up  with  giv- 
ing first  names,  and  relating  various  incidents  connected 
with  these  names.  Another  considerable  part  is  occupied 
in  giving  medical  advice.  Finally,  a  relatively  very  small 
part  is  taken  up  with  real  test  messages,  that  is,  messages 
whose  truth  is  unknown  to  the  sitter,  and  to  no  one  else 
alive,  or  only  to  persons  inaccessible  to  the  medium.  Since 
even  Hyslop  admits  that  these  alone  are  strictly  evidential, 
in  any  scientific  sense,  we  may  feel  ourselves  justified  in 
not  taking  up  the  other  messages  in  detail,  but  only  in 
considering  the  possible  sources  of  error  in  them,  or  the 
avenues  of  information  open  to  Mrs.  Piper. 

To  sum  up  so  far  then,  those  who  have  become  con- 
vinced that  Mrs.  Piper  is  in  communication  with  the  spirit 
world  admit  frankly  that  much  of  what  she  says  is  non- 
sense or  non-evidential ;  that  considerable  is  evidently  ob- 
tained through  the  fishing  of  the  control  or  is  known  to 
the  normal  Mrs.  Piper;  and  that  another  part  might  easily 
be  inferred  by  either  the  control  or  Mrs.  Piper.  Accord- 
ingly, they  explicitly  throw  out  of  court  such  messages, 
and  rest  their  "  scientific  "  case  solely  on  cross  references 
and  on  messages  which  they  consider  to  conform  to  the 
tests.     These  we  shall  soon  take  up. 

Before  doing  this,  however,  we  must  consider  certain 
other  phases  of  the  sittings. 

We  may  assume  that  Mrs.  Piper  never  employs  any  of 
the  common  forms  of  fraud,  but  that  her  controls  get 
most,  if  not  all,  of  her  information  from  the  sitter.  But 
have  they  any  ways  of  getting  information  not  recognised 
by  the  Psychical  Researchers,  who  have  published  accounts 
of  their  sittings?  And  are  there  possible  errors  in  inter- 
pretation,  etc.,  which  have  not  been  allowed  for? 

One  of  the  very  important  factors  here  is  the  record 

44 


EARLY    TRANCES 

of  the  sittings.  Davey's^  experiments  showed  most  strik- 
ingly the  displacements  and  interpolations  of  incidents 
which  occur  even  when  the  account  of  the  sitting  is  writ- 
ten immediately.  Any  record,  to  be  considered  accurate, 
must  have  been  taken  at  the  time.  But  no  stenographer 
seems  to  have  been  employed,  even  in  the  earlier  Piper 
sittings,  when  the  control  spoke  instead  of  writing,  and 
so  made  no  record  himself,  as  has  been  the  case  in  later 
years.  Notes  were  taken  in  long  hand,  but,  as  far  as  can 
be  judged,  until  Hyslop's  sittings  no  attempt  was  made 
to  take  down  everything  said,  especially  remarks  considered 
foreign  to  the  matter  in  hand,  or  remarks  of  one  sitter  to 
the  other,  when  two  or  more  were  present.  But,  if  the 
principles  of  conjuring  hold  at  all  here,  these  very  remarks 
may  be  the  ones  that  gave  the  control  his  clew,  and  so, 
when  we  cannot  trace  the  source  of  a  remark  made  by  the 
control,  of  some  startling  bit  of  information,  etc.,  we  are 
justified  in  at  least  querying  whether  our  inability  to  ex- 
plain it  may  not  be  due  to  the  imperfect  record. 

Hyslop,  however,  made  it  a  special  point  to  get  down 
every  word  spoken  in  his  sittings,  even  the  most  casual 
ones,  and  we  can  judge,  therefore,  whether  the  mere  words 
could  have  hinted  to  the  control  whether  he  was  right  or 
wrong.  We  have,  however,  no  way  of  judging  the  sitter's 
manner,  his  inflections,  muscular  tensions,  etc.,  through  all 
of  which  he  involuntarily  shows  his  opinion  of  what  the 
control  is  writing.  The  control  is  very  sensitive  to  all 
these  things.  Mrs.  Piper's  eyes  are  not  only  closed  but 
turned  from  the  sitter,  so  that  little  or  no  information 
comes  from  them,  but,  to  compensate,  her  ears  are  most 
acute,  hear  even  the  slightest  sounds  and  have  been  trained 
for  years  to  catch  all  the  differences  in  inflection  which 
indicate  the  sitter's  mood.  Her  right  hand,  too,  every  now 
and  then  explores  the  sitter's  face  or  some  part  of  his  body, 

i  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  iv,  1886- 
87,  pp.  381-495,  and  Index. 

45 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  thus  gets  indications  of  his  muscular  tensions  which 
doubtless  convey  knowledge, 

Hyslop  says  that  in  some  of  the  sittings  he  spoke  not 
a  word  from  beginning  to  end.  Nevertheless,  some  one 
who  spoke  had  to  be  there,  and  this  person,  usually  Dr. 
Hodgson,  betrayed  through  his  voice  his  estimate  of  the 
accuracy  of  the  control's  statements,  this  estimate  being  in 
part  determined  through  his  receiving  suggestions  from 
Hyslop 's  appearance,  manner,  etc.  In  short,  all  the  experi- 
ments in  telepathy  have  shown  emphatically  and  repeat- 
edly that  between  even  people  in  the  normal  state,  the  pos- 
sibilities of  involuntary  suggestion  are  infinitely  greater 
than  were  formerly  supposed,  and  when  one  of  the  parties 
is  in  the  abnormal  state  of  trance,  with  the  heightened 
suggestibility  characteristic  of  it,  these  possibilities  are 
greatly  increased. 

We  must,  therefore,  throw  out  of  consideration  in  the 
Piper  case  all  messages  whose  content  was  already  known 
to  the  sitter,  such  as  family  names,  because  the  sitter  may 
involuntarily  have  aided  the  medium. 

This  brings  us  back  once  more  to  the  so-called  test  mes- 
sages, that  is,  messages  whose  content  was  unknown  to  the 
sitter  or  to  any  living  person  accessible  to  the  medium, 
but  which  were  later  verified.  The  incident  given  in  any 
such  message  must  be  of  so  definite  a  character  that  it 
could  not  be  confused  with  a  similar  incident  known  to  the 
sitter  or  medium,  and  it  must  be  so  definitely  recorded  at 
the  time  it  is  given  that  the  sitter  cannot  later  read  into 
it  connections  not  indicated  at  the  time. 


CHAPTER   IV 

TEST   MESSAGES 

In  the  development  of  the  Piper  case  test  messages  have 
taken  two  forms:  the  sealed  envelope  test,  and  messages 
given  in  the  course  of  a  regular  sitting.  In  the  sealed  en- 
velope test  a  written  message  is  sealed  in  an  envelope.  In 
some  cases  the  sitter  or  the  medium  holds  the  envelope, 
while  in  others  it  is  in  the  keeping  of  a  trustworthy  per- 
son. Sometimes  the  sitter  knows  the  message,  but  in  the 
ideal  test  no  one  but  the  writer  of  the  message  knows  it, 
and  the  test  is  not  given  until  the  spirit  of  the  writer  ap- 
pears at  some  sitting  after  his  death  and  gives  the  message, 
which  is  then  verified  by  opening  the  envelope. 

At  one  time  much  w'as  expected  from  this  test,  and  vari- 
ous members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  wrote 
messages  and  put  them  into  the  Society  archives,  to 
be  kept  until  their  spirits  should  appear  and  order  the 
envelopes  unsealed.  The  test  has  been  given  to  the  Piper 
controls  on  various  occasions  and  has  uniformly  failed.  A 
notable  case  is  the  Hannah  Wild  incident.  Hannah  Wild, 
before  her  death,  wrote  a  letter  to  her  sister,  and  told  no 
one  what  it  contained.  After  her  death  this  letter  Avas 
eventually  put  in  Professor  James's  hands  for  safe-keep- 
ing, until  the  appropriate  test  could  be  made.  In  due  time 
the  sister  went  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  the  spirit  of  Hannah 
Wild  appeared,  and  when  asked  if  she  remembered  about 
this  letter,  said  that  she  did.  (She  spoke  through  Phinuit, 
who  claimed  to  repeat  her  messages  to  her  sister. )  Phinuit 
said  that  he  could  find  out  what  was  in  the  letter,  and 
at  length  dictated  a  long  letter  which  he  said  was  the  one 

47 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

in  James's  possession.  It  was  in  no  respect  like  it.  Sev- 
eral other  times,  at  intervals,  he  renewed  the  attempt,  and 
was  as  unsuccessful  as  at  first. 

Another  incident  equally  notable  occurred  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Imperator  group  of  controls.  Before  these 
controls  took  possession  of  Mrs.  Piper,  they  had  been  the 
controls  of  W.  Stainton  Moses,  an  English  clergyman  and 
one  of  the  best-known  English  Spiritists.  They  told 
him  that  the  names  which  they  gave,  Imperator,  Rector, 
Doctor,  and  Prudens,  were  those  by  which  they  desired  to 
be  known  to  the  public,  but  that  in  reality  they  were  cer- 
tain deceased  persons,  some  of  whom  he  had  himself  known 
while  alive.  He  wrote  the  true  names  in  his  diary,  but 
kept  them  entirely  secret  during  his  life.  At  his  death  his 
diary  came  into  the  hands  of  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  who  was 
then  the  only  person  alive  who  knew  whom  these  spirits 
claimed  to  be.  Now,  when  the  spirit  of  Moses  appeared  in 
Mrs.  Piper's  trance,  Hodgson  proposed,  as  a  test  of  his 
identity,  that  he  should  tell  him  these  names,  which  could 
be  verified  by  Myers,  and  which  would  be  so  complete  a 
test  as  to  stagger  all  incredulity.  Moses  accepted  the  test 
with  apparent  confidence  and  gave  three  of  the  names, 
which  Hodgson  sent  at  once  to  Myers.  Not  so  much  as  a 
letter  in  any  of  them  was  correct! 

All  other  such  tests  have  failed  also  with  Mrs.  Piper, 
and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  they  should  fail,  if  the 
spirit  hypothesis  is  correct.  If  the  person  while  still  living 
puts  into  the  letter  something  of  strong  emotional  interest 
to  him,  some  permanent  interest,  it  seems  strange  that  such 
a  memory  does  not  survive  the  shock  of  dissolution  when 
such  trivial  things  as  his  once  possessing  a  brown-handled 
penknife  and  wearing  a  thin  black  coat  remain. 

The  only  case  on  record  where  a  test  message  planned 
before  death  was  correctly  given  by  the  deceased  spirit  is 
the  following,  reported  by  James  (Proceedings  of  the  Soci- 
ety for  Psychical  Research,   vol.   viii,   pp.   248-51).     In 

48 


TEST    MESSAGES 

Kingston,  Mass.,  lived  a  brother  and  sister  named  Benja. 
The  brother  knew  that  he  would  shortly  die,  and  so  he 
arranged  these  tests :  he  carved  out  a  piece  of  soft  brick 
into  a  slender  form,  broke  it,  and  gave  his  sister  one  part, 
hiding  the  other  himself.  He  also  wrote  a  letter  and  sealed 
it  and  gave  it  to  his  sister,  telling  her  that  she  must  not 
open  it  until  his  spirit  returned  and  gave  her  permission. 

For  months  after  his  decease  his  mother  and  sister  re- 
ceived no  satisfactory  message,  until  they  began  sitting  at 
home,  when  they  got  table-tilting,  spelling  out  the  alphabet. 
The  table  then  spelled  out,  "  You'll  find  that  piece  of  brick 
in  the  cabinet  under  the  tomahawk,"  and  sure  enough,  there 
it  was,  although  the  cabinet  had  not  been  touched  by  any 
one  since  her  brother  had  locked  it  and  put  away  the  key. 
Then  the  table  spelled  out  for  the  letter,  "  Julia!  Do 
right  and  be  happy.  Benja."  And  this  was  just  what  the 
sealed  letter  said,  the  words  being  exactly  correct. 

Dr.  Hodgson  investigated  the  case  and  had  a  letter 
from  a  clergyman  of  Kingston  saying  that  the  sister's  word 
was  to  be  trusted,  the  sister  being  the  one  who  reported  the 
case  to  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research.  But  the  mother 
had  died  in  the  meantime,  and  there  is  nothing  to  indicate 
how  far  she  may  have  contributed  to  the  table-tilting,  or 
how  far  both  may  have  had  hints  as  to  the  hiding  place 
of  the  brick  and  the  contents  of  the  letter.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  assume  conscious  fraud  to  explain  such  a  case,  but 
only  subconscious  inferences  made  by  the  mind  through  a 
period  of  several  months  of  wonder  and  guessing. 

Let  us  take  up  now  in  detail  all  the  test  messages  given 
in  the  published  records,  and  see  how  many  of  them  are 
in  reality  inexplicable  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  the  mind. 

When  Mrs.  Piper  first  went  to  England,  in  1889,  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  was  present  at  twenty-two  sittings,  other  peo- 
ple also  usually  being  present,  but  sometimes  no  one  else. 
Extraordinary  precautions  were  taken  at  first  to  prevent 
Mrs.  Piper  having  any  information  about  the  affairs  of 

49 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  sitters.  She  stayed  in  Sir  Oliver's  house,  met  few  peo- 
ple, the  servants  were  all  new  ones  from  the  coimtry,  who 
presumably  knew  nothing  of  the  family,  and  the  family 
Bible  and  albums  were  all  put  away.  Nevertheless,  in 
course  of  time  Mrs.  Piper  gave  the  Lodges  considerable  in- 
formation about  their  family,  etc. 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  none  of  these  sit- 
tings were  stenographically  reported,  and  that  in  some  cases 
notes  were  not  even  taken  at  the  time,  but  the  sitting  was 
written  up  afterward  from  memory.  The  records  are 
therefore  liable  to  all  the  lapses,  interpolations,  and  errors 
which  Davey  disclosed.  When  what  is  said  and  done  in  a 
sitting  has  been  sifted,  parts  omitted,  and  only  parts  which 
seem  important  to  the  sitter  inserted,  it  is  impossible 
even  to  conjecture  how  much  fishing  and  hesitation  there 
were  from  the  control,  and  how  much  the  sitter  revealed. 

Sir  Oliver  himself  gives  in  all  forty-two  test  messages 
for  the  twenty-two  sittings,  in  which  the  information  was 
unknown  to,  forgotten,  or  unknowable  by  the  sitter.  They 
are  as  follows : 

1.  Phinuit  told  Mrs.  Lodge  that  at  one  time  her  father 
had  hurt  his  right  leg  below  the  knee,  at  the  same  time  rub- 
bing the  place. 

Mrs.  Lodge  knew  that  there  had  been  a  hurt,  but  be- 
lieved it  to  be  above  the  knee.  On  inquiry,  however,  she 
found  Phinuit  correct.  {Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  vol.  vi,  p.  467  et  seq.,  for  all  these 
examples. ) 

Mrs.  Lodge  may  have  involuntarily  given  Phinuit  in- 
formation as  to  the  hurt — at  any  rate,  since  the  record  is 
incomplete,  it  cannot  be  proved  that  she  did  not.  The  exact 
location  may  easily  have  been  a  guess,  as  a  person  guessing 
would  usually  choose  the  lower  leg,  because  it  is  more  liable 
to  injuries,  sprains,  varicose  veins,  etc.,  than  the  upper  leg. 

2.  One  sitter,  Mr.  Gonner,  arranged  with  his  sister  to 
have  his  mother  do  some  unusual  thing  at  the  time  of  his 

50 


TEST    MESSAGES 

sitting,  and  asked  Phinuit  to  tell  what  she  was  doing. 
Phinuit  said,  making  appropriate  gestures,  that  she  was 
fixing  her  hair  in  a  room  with  a  cot  in  it,  so  high,  that 
she  put  on  her  wrap  and  lifted  the  lid  of  a  box  on  a  stand. 
On  inquiry  it  was  found  that  half  an  hour  earlier  than  this 
the  mother  was  putting  on  her  things  to  take  a  drive,  going 
through  movements  similar  to  those  described. 

Even  if  we  assume  that  half  an  hour  was  necessary  in 
order  to  "  get  the  message  through,"  it  would  not  be  re- 
markable for  Mrs.  Piper  to  make  such  a  lucky  guess,  if 
she  had  the  iLSual  impression  of  Americans  that  all  English- 
women are  fond  of  walking,  even  on  rainy  days.  The 
really  unusual  thing,  namely,  that  j\Irs.  Gonner  took  a 
short  ride  instead  of  a  walk,  was  not  mentioned. 

3.  Phinuit  told  Sir  Oliver  that  his  Cousin  Charley  had 
been  made  quite  ill  by  the  bird  he  had  eaten,  localising  and 
describing  the  illness  by  gestures. 

On  writing  to  Canada,  where  this  cousin  lived.  Sir 
Oliver  found  that  he  had  shot  a  prairie  chicken  out  of  sea- 
son and  eaten  it,  and  that  he  had  been  ill  with  la  grippe. 
The  only  true  part,  then,  refers  to  eating  the  prairie 
chicken.  But  when  we  know  that  the  sitting  was  held  the 
day  after  Christmas,  even  this  has  no  value.  In  America 
nearly  everyone  eats  some  sort  of  "  bird  "  on  Christmas 
Day,  and  many  of  us  are  made  ill  by  them,  whether  the 
"  bird  "  is  turkey,  chicken,  duck,  or  prairie  chicken. 
Phinuit  missed  a  great  opportunity  in  not  stating  explicitly 
that  Charley  ate  prairie  chicken  and  was  ill  with  la  grippe. 

4.  Phinuit  told  Mrs.  Thompson  that  her  Uncle  William 
broke  his  arm,  and,  upon  her  dissenting,  said  that  he  broke 
his  leg  below  the  knee.  This  was  not,  however,  verified, 
and  so  is  not  evidential. 

5.  At  various  times  Sir  Oliver's  Uncle  Jerry  appeared 
and  gave  incidents  to  prove  his  identity.  Out  of  quite  a 
number  two  were  wholly  correct,  one  partly  so,  and  others 
unverifiable.     He  said  that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  once 

51 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

killed  a  snake  and  his  brother  Robert  kept  the  skin.     This 
was  verified. 

6.  He  also  described  how  he  and  some  brothers  came 
near  getting  drowned  in  the  mill  race.  This,  too,  was 
verified. 

7.  Uncle  Jerry  told,  through  Phinuit,  how  his  brother 
Bob  once  killed  a  cat  in  Smith's  field,  and  tied  it  by  the 
tail  to  a  fence  to  see  it  kick  before  it  died.  Sir  Oliver 
found  that  his  Uncle  Charles  did  once  kill  a  cat,  but  not 
that  he  tied  it  to  a  fence,  nor  was  it  in  Smith's  field;  but 
there  was  a  Smith 's  field  near  the  creek. 

Uncle  Jerry's  attempts  to  prove  his  identity  by  these 
incidents  are  generally  admitted  to  have  little  value.  All 
boys  kill  cats  and  snakes,  and  many  of  them  come  near 
drowning  or  think  they  do.  Even  the  naming  of  Smith's 
field  does  not  seem  to  us  so  remarkable  as  it  does  to  Sir 
Oliver,  who  argues  at  great  length  against  the  probability 
of  Mrs.  Piper  learning  about  this  field  by  sending  an  agent 
there.  Why  is  any  such  supposition  necessary?  In  the 
first  place  the  record  of  the  sitting  does  not  indicate  how 
readily  this  name  came  out,  or  how  distinctly  it  was  spoken, 
so  that  the  original  notes  may  not  give  exactly  what  Phinuit 
said.  But,  further,  Sir  Oliver  found,  on  sending  an  agent 
there  himself,  that  there  never  had  been  any  such  field, 
located  as  the  still  living  uncle,  who  remembered  it,  located 
it,  and  that  the  only  approximation  to  it  was  a  field  which 
had  once  had  a  smithy  in  it.  The  old  inhabitants  said  that 
various  fields  had  been  called  Smith's  fields,  from  their 
owners,  but  none  had  ever  been  so  recorded  in  their  titles. 
We  have,  then,  two  possibilities :  either  Phinuit  was  at  his 
old  tricks  of  guessing,  using  one  of  the  most  common  Eng- 
lish names  in  his  guess,  or  else  the  living  uncle's  memory 
had  played  him  false  when  it  was  suggested  to  him  that 
when  a  boy  he  had  played  in  Smith's  field. 

8.  Uncle  Jerry  said  that  he  had  made  some  marks  in 
his  watch  in  a  certain  place  where,  on  opening  the  watch, 

52 


TEST    MESSAGES 

Sir  Oliver  found  a  landscape  engraved,  but  he  thinks  that 
some  of  the  lines  were  "  unnecessarily  deep,"  and  were, 
presumably,  those  referred  to  by  Uncle  Jerry.  This,  of 
course,  is  not  evidential,  since  we  are  not  certain  that  the 
marks  were  not  in  the  landscape  originally. 

9.  A  chain  was  given  to  Phinuit,  who  asked  for  the 
wrappers  and  letter  that  came  with  it.  He  held  them  to 
the  top  of  his  head,  by  degrees  brushed  away  the  blank 
papers,  and  then,  after  various  trials  and  corrections,  gave 
out:  "  Is  there  J.  N.  W.  here?  [That  is,  these  words  were 
quoted  from  the  paper.]  Poole.  Then  there's  Sefton. 
S-e-f-t-o-n-.  Poole,  hair.  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  W.  That's 
it.  I  send  hair.  Poole.  J.  N.  W.  Do  you  understand 
that?  " 

Lodge  afterward  found  that  the  letter  contained  the 
words  Sefton  Drive,  and  Cooke  written  to  look  like  Poole. 
It  also  said,  "  I  send  you  some  hair,"  and  ended,  "  Yours 
sincerely,  J.  B.  W.,"  the  B  looking  something  like  an  N. 

Unfortunately,  Sir  Oliver  does  not  state  whether  the 
letter  was  so  held  that  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for 
the  entranced  Mrs.  Piper  to  have  caught  glimpses  of  it, 
and  especially  he  does  not  describe  the  manipulations  of 
it  during  the  "  various  trials  and  corrections  "  to  which 
he  refers,  so  that  we  are  free  to  choose  between  super- 
normal powers  and  her  having  caught  glimpses  of  the  writ- 
ing. (In  these  sittings  the  control  spoke,  and  the  eyes  were 
partly  closed.) 

10.  Phinuit  said  that  one  of  Sir  Oliver's  children  was 
having  trouble  in  the  calf  of  one  leg.  This  was  not  known 
at  the  time  but  developed  later. 

No  supernormal  knowledge  is  necessary  here  to  so  keen 
an  observer  as  Mrs.  Piper  and  Phinuit.  The  child  may  per- 
haps have  complained  in  her  hearing,  or  may  have  given 
indications  of  trouble  which  she  was  shrewd  enough  to  in- 
terpret. It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  for  outsiders  to  note 
such  things  earlier  than  the  child's  own  family  do. 

53 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

11.  Mr.  Rendall  was  told  of  a  book  that  he  had  as  a 
keepsake  of  his  dead  friend,  Agnes.  He  did  not  remember 
this  book  at  the  time,  but  did  six  months  later. 

Many  men  with  dear  friends  have  books  as  keepsakes. 

12.  Sir  Oliver  asked  of  a  certain  friend,  "  Is  her  hair 
short  or  long  ?  ' '  and  Phinuit  implied  that  it  was  long,  con- 
trary to  Sir  Oliver's  idea,  but  correctly. 

Phinnit  would  naturally  say  a  woman's  hair  was  long, 
if  he  were  just  guessing. 

13.  Sir  Oliver  was  told  of  private  affairs  of  Mr.  E., 
unknown  to  him  at  the  time  but  verified  later.  As  we  do 
not  know  the  incidents,  however,  we  cannot  consider  them 
as  evidential. 

14.  Phinuit  described  an  old  lady  then  with  Sir 
Oliver's  Uncle  Robert,  correctly,  but  all  other  items  were 
wrong  or  indefinite,  and  we  do  not  know  whether  Sir  Oliver 
knew  the  lady. 

15.  Sir  Oliver  was  told  that  the  last  place  his  fa- 
ther went  to  was  Bob's,  and  he  afterward  verified  this, 
but  the  term  "  last  place  "  is  indefinite,  and  was  inter- 
preted by  Sir  Oliver  to  mean  the  last  place  he  went  to 
on  a  visit. 

16.  Phinuit  identified  a  stick  given  to  him  as  W.  T.'s 
last  stick,  which  was  correct,  but  unknown  to  Sir  Oliver. 
But  are  not  the  last  possessions  of  a  person  those  most 
likely  to  be  kept,  whether  they  are  in  themselves  valuable 
or  not? 

17.  Mr.  Lund's  sister  was  called  Margie,  a  pet  name 
he  had  forgotten  about,  but  after  Phinuit  knew  her  real 
name,  IMargaret,  he  would  naturally  guess  Margie  as  a  pet 
name. 

18.  Phinuit  told  Mr.  Thompson  his  mother  had  a  cold 
in  one  ear,  and  this  proved  true — a  comparatively  safe 
prediction  to  make  of  an  elderly  lady  in  the  winter. 

19.  Sir  Oliver  was  told  of  a  fight  his  Uncle  Frank  was 
once  in  with  a  certain  boy  named  John  Rooke.    This  uncle 

54 


TEST    MESSAGES 

wrote  him  that  he  knew  he  had  been  in  a  fight,  but  could 
not  remember  the  name  of  the  boy,  and  this  leaves  the  only- 
valuable  part  of  the  statement  unverified,  since  most  boys 
get  into  fights. 

20.  Mr.  Thompson  was  told  to  give  a  message  from  Mr. 
Rich  to  his  father,  and  that  his  father  was  troubled  with 
giddiness.  This  was  true,  but  may  have  been  an  inference 
from  other  knowledge. 

21.  Phinuit  recalled  to  Mr,  Clarke  his  Uncle  John.  Mr. 
Clarke  denied  that  he  had  such  an  uncle,  but  remembered 
the  next  day  that  he  had. 

John  is  one  of  the  very  common  English  names,  and  the 
chances  are  good  that  anybody  will  have  some  relative, 
near  or  distant,  of  that  name.  That  this  uncle  was  not 
close  to  Mr.  Clarke  is  evidenced  by  his  first  denial. 

22.  Phinuit  told  Mr.  Clarke  that  he  had  some  red 
stamped  tickets  in  his  pocket.  Mr.  Clarke  denied  this, 
but  afterward  remembered  two  cheques  stamped  in  red. 
He  is  sure  that  Phinuit  could  not  have  seen  these,  but 
Mr.  Davey's  seances  make  us  distrust  such  positive  as- 
sertions, and  wonder  whether  there  was  not  some  forgotten 
opportunity. 

23.  Phinuit  told  Mrs.  Verrall  that  her  sister  had  been 
"  filled  up  with  quinine  "  two  years  before.  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall denied  this  but  found  later  that  it  was  a  fact.  She 
herself  says,  however,  that  quinine  is  too  common  a  remedy 
for  colds  for  Phinuit 's  assertion  to  be  counted  more  than 
a  guess. 

24.  Mrs.  Verrall  was  told  that  a  friend,  Carrie,  had  had 
a  baby  sister.  She  later  verified  this,  but  still  it  is  hardly 
evidential,  for  one  of  the  stock  guesses  of  the  professional 
medium  is  as  to  dead  baby  relatives,  which  are  to  be  found 
in  nearly  every  family. 

25.  She  was  also  told  that  one  grandfather  had  a  sister 
Susan,  which  was  later  verified,  but  here,  too,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  guessing  is  good,  Susan  being  a  common  English 

55 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

name,  and  perhaps  being  inadvertently  referred  to  before 
Mrs.  Piper. 

26.  Also,  that  a  man  known  to  her  as  Jasper  was  also 
named  George,  which  was  true,  and  unknown  to  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall.  This  Avould  seem  to  imply  some  knowledge  of  Mrs. 
Verrall's  family,  which  she  is  convinced  Mrs.  Piper  did 
not  possess, 

27.  She  was  also  told  that  her  brother  had  a  hurt  on 
his  big  toe.  She  found  that  this  brother  had  had  such  a 
hurt  six  months  before  on  a  tramping  tour,  and  that  an- 
other brother  had  one  there  then.  But  if  Mrs.  Piper  knew 
that  the  family  was  addicted  to  tramping  tours,  as  is  easily 
possible,  such  a  statement  would  be  a  very  easy  inference. 

28.  Mr.  Browning  was  told  that  he  had  a  nephew  then 
in  Philadelphia.  He  knew  that  a  nephew  was  in  America, 
and  upon  inquiry  found  that  he  was  in  Philadelphia. 
The  Researchers  themselves  attach  no  importance  to  this 
incident,  because  on  various  occasions  Phinuit  used  Phila- 
delphia as  a  convenient  location  for  persons  whose  where- 
abouts he  did  not  know. 

29.  Mr.  Sidgwick  was  told  that  his  wife  was  in  a  large 
chair  talking  to  a  lady,  and  that  she  had  something  on  her 
head.  This  was  correct,  but  the  person  with  her  was  in- 
correctly described,  and  she  was  incorrectly  located.  Mrs. 
Piper  was  visiting  the  Sidgwicks  at  this  time,  and  knew 
their  house  and  habits,  and  knew,  furthermore,  that  this 
was  an  experiment.  Under  these  conditions  the  guess  has 
just  about  the  correct  factors  that  one  might  expect. 

30.  Mr.  Deronco  was  told  that  his  mother  was  lying 
down,  not  in  bed,  not  far  away,  in  another  person's  house. 
Later  he  found  that  she  was  lying  down  at  this  particular 
time,  but  in  her  own  home  in  Germany.  Phinuit  knew 
before  this  that  she  was  subject  to  headaches,  and  the  habit 
of  lying  down  is  rather  characteristic  of  the  feeble  state  of 
health  implied  by  them. 

31.  After  much  hesitation  Mr.  Deroneo  was  also  told 

56 


TEST    MESSAGES 

that   his   brother  was  painting  a  profile   picture,   -which 
proved  to  be  true. 

But  from  the  description  of  the  incident  the  reader  in- 
fers that  Mr.  Deronco  expected  his  brother  to  be  painting 
such  a  picture,  and  if  so,  the  case  would  not  properly  fall 
into  the  class  we  are  considering  here. 

32.  Miss  X.  was  told  of  a  baby  brother,  William,  whom 
she  had  forgotten  about  but  later  remembered.  But  here, 
as  before,  the  guess  as  to  a  dead  baby  is  rather  safe,  and  the 
name  William  is  very  common  and  comparatively  safe.  If 
Miss  X.  had  not  remembered  the  dead  brother  she  probably 
would  have  recalled  some  other  relative  of  this  name,  and 
Phinuit  could  easily  have  explained  that  he  was  some  one 
else's  dead  brother. 

33.  Mr.  F.  was  told  of  an  Uncle  William  whom  he  had 
forgotten.  But  later  he  remembered  a  great-uncle  William, 
whose  picture  resembled  the  description  given  by  Phinuit. 
But  this  is  correct  only  if  uncle  and  great-uncle  are 
identified. 

34.  ]\Ir.  Leaf  was  told  that  he  had  two  letters  from  Mr. 
Gurney  in  his  desk,  about  an  engagement  for  work  and 
study.  Mr.  Leaf  found  that  he  did  have  two,  but  they  were 
about  Mr.  Gurney 's  engagement  to  marry.  But  Mrs.  Piper 
knew  that  Mr.  Gurney  and  Mr.  Leaf  had  known  each  other 
well,  and  it  was  a  very  safe  guess  that  after  Mr.  Gurney 's 
death  Mr.  Leaf  would  keep  his  letters,  and,  naturally,  in 
his  desk. 

35.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  was  told  that  her  husband  was  sit- 
ting with  his  feet  up,  with  various  other  details,  all  the  rest 
being  incorrect.  Mrs.  Piper  was  then  visiting  the  Sidg- 
wicks,  and  doubtless  had  enough  knowledge  of  Dr.  Sidg- 
wick to  make  this  much  a  safe  guess. 

36.  Dr.  Sidgwdck  was  told  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick  was  re- 
clining with  a  black  cloth  thing  over  her  head,  reading. 
She  was,  but  had  a  doctor's  scarlet  hood  on.  The  same 
explanation  holds  here  as  for  the  previous  incident.  No.  35, 

7  57 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

37.  Mrs.  Verrall  was  told  that  Mr.  Verrall  was  sitting 
at  a  desk  and  had  just  laid  down  a  book  to  talk  to  a  visitor, 
but  the  visitor's  acts  were  wrongly  described. 

38.  Another  sitter,  Mrs.  B.,  was  told  that  Mrs.  Verrall 
was  then  looking  into  a  glass  globe  and  that  her  daughter 
was  with  her,  which  was  correct.     This  incident  and  the 

>/  previous  one  depend  for  their  value  on  how  much  knowl- 
edge Mrs.  Piper  had  of  the  Verrall  family.  Doubtless, 
she  knew  that  Mrs.  Verrall  was  a  crystal  gazer — at  least 
her  published  reference  to  this  sort  of  thing  could  have 
given  Mrs.  Piper  this  knowledge — and  tlie  other  statements 
could  be  made  if  she  had  only  a  slight  knowledge  of  the 
family. 

39.  Mr.  Gale  was  told  that  at  one  time  one  of  his  grand- 
fathers had  been  lame.  This  was  true,  but  why  could  it 
not  have  been  merely  a  lucky  hit  ? 

40.  Miss  Johnson  was  told  that  her  brother  was  reading 
with  his  feet  up,  in  a  corner  room,  with  a  map  or  picture 

y  y  to  the  left  and  a  desk  to  the  right.  The  comparatively  de- 
tailed account  here  makes  chance  seem  improbable,  and 
therefore  makes  the  incident  difficult  to  explain,  unless  there 
was  some  way  for  Mrs.  Piper  to  have  learned  about  this 
room. 

These  exhaust  the  incidents  in  Sir  Oliver's  twenty-two 
sittings,  which  were  unknown  to  the  sitter  but  were  after- 
ward verified.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  very  many 
misses  and  unverifiable  statements,  even  Uncle  Jerry,  whose 
memory  for  his  childhood  seemed  so  vivid,  mentioning  vari- 
ous occurrences  which  none  of  the  other  living  relatives 
could  recall.  Other  statements  were  definitely  known  to  be 
false,  and  others  were  obviously  nonsensical. 

One  curious  instance  of  error  is  this:  The  father  of  a 
Mr.  Wilson  purported  to  be  present  sending  messages  to 
his  son,  and,  among  many  non-evidential  statements,  he  said 
that  his  son  first  thought  of  being  a  doctor.  The  son  him- 
self said  that  he  never  had  thought  anything  of  the  sort, 

58 


TEST    MESSAGES 

and  Sir  Oliver  notes  that  he  himself  had  thought  he  had, 
and  remarks  tliat  this  looks  like  a  case  of  thought  trans- 
ference. Doubtless,  there  was  thought  transference,  but  it 
was  done  by  Sir  Oliver  involuntarily  betraying  his  opinion 
to  Phinuit,  I  would  venture  to  say. 

The  impressions  made  by  these  sittings  varied  consid- 
erably with  the  sitters.  Sir  Oliver  was  greatly  impressed, 
and  wrote,  "  Undoubtedly,  Mrs.  Piper  in  the  trance  state 
has  access  to  some  abnormal  sources  of  information,  and 
is  for  the  time  cognisant  of  facts  which  happened  long  ago 
or  at  a  distance."  The  only  question  in  his  mind  was 
w^hether  the  best  theory  was  that  of  clairvoyance,  telepathy, 
or  spirits. 

Mr.  Lund,  who  had  one  sitting,  wrote,  "  What  im- 
pressed me  most  was  the  way  in  which  she  seemed  to  feel 
for  information,  rarely  telling  me  anything  of  importance 
right  off  the  reel,  but  carefully  fishing  and  then  following 
up  a  lead.  It  seemed  to  me  that  when  she  was  on  the  right 
tack  the  nervous  and  uncontrollable  movement  of  one's 
muscles  gave  her  the  signal  that  she  was  right  and  might 
steam  ahead." 

In  the  published  Hodgson  sittings,  running  up  to  No- 
vember, 1891,  I  have  been  able  to  find  but  thirty  statements 
unknown  to  the  sitter  at  the  time  of  the  sitting,  but  later 
verified : 

1.  Hodgson  was  told  that  his  youngest  sister  would  soon 
have  another  child,  a  boy,  which  happened  within  a  month. 
Just  before  this  Phinuit  had  given  the  number  of  her  chil- 
dren correctly,  but  had  been  allowed  to  infer  that  he  was 
wrong,  and  had  then  crawfished  and  explained  his  state- 
ment as  meaning  something  else,  making  this  last  predic- 
tion look  like  a  random  hit  which  happened  to  strike  the 
bull's  eye, 

2.  S.  A.  Hopkins  was  told  that  a  man  named  Vaughan, 
who  appeared  from  the  spirit  world  to  send  a  message,  had 
been  a  little  lame.     This  was  true  but  Mr.  Hopkins  had 

59 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

never  noticed  it.     How  much  chance  was  there  that  Mrs. 
Piper  had  heard  of  this  man? 

3.  At  the  opening  of  one  sitting,  Phinuit  said  that  he 
had  been  with  Bessie,  who  had  been  writing  a  few  minutes 
before.    This  was  correct. 

4.  Two  days  later,  Phinuit  said  that  Bessie  had  been 
reading  a  funny  book,  a  life  of  somebody.  Also,  that  she 
had  called  on  an  old  friend  of  her  dead  sister,  and  that  she 
had  a  friend  named  Severance.  These  statements  were 
made  to  Hodgson  and  verified  by  Bessie.  She  did  not,  how- 
ever, actually  go  to  see  the  friend,  but  wanted  to,  and  wrote 
him  a  letter. 

We  are  left  in  ignorance,  however,  how  much  Mrs.  Piper 
knew  about  Bessie,  and  how  much  these  statements  might 
be  inferred,  from  casual  remarks  made  by  Hodgson,  from 
Bessie's  habitual  mode  of  living,  etc. 

The  fact  that  all  of  these  Hodgson  sittings  were  held  in 
Boston  or  near  it,  and  that  most  of  the  people  referred  to 
came  from  that  vicinity,  so  increases  the  chances  of  Mrs. 
Piper  having  accidental  knowledge  about  them  that  the 
difficulty  of  giving  a  convincing  test  message  is  enormously 
increased. 

5.  Mr.  Robertson  James  was  told  that  an  aunt  had  died 
about  two  o'clock  the  night  before.  She  had  died,  but 
about  twelve,  and  her  death  had  been  momentarily  ex- 
pected. The  sitter,  who  had  not  heard  of  her  death  at  the 
time,  may  have  betrayed  involuntarily  the  serious  charac- 
ter of  her  illness,  and  Phinuit  took  a  bold  chance  in  guess- 
ing, getting  the  time  wrong. 

6.  Mr.  A.  Y.  was  told  that  a  certain  person  was  fatally 
ill,  which  was  later  verified.  But  again  we  are  not  told 
whether  this  may  not  have  been  obtained  from  the  papers 
or  learned  in  some  normal  way. 

7.  Miss  Savage  had  three  locks  of  hair  in  separate  en- 
velopes, which  she  mixed  so  that  she  did  not  know  which 
envelope  she  drew.     Phinuit  identified  each.     But  we  are 

60 


TEST    MESSAGES 

not  told  whether  the  locks  wore  identical  in  size  and  shape, 
so  as  to  convey  information  through  touch  to  Miss  Savage, 
or  whether  the  envelopes  were  thick  enough  so  that  no  sus- 
picions were  aroused  in  her  mind  as  to  which  lock  she  was 
giving  Phinuit.  If  she  had  only  a  partially  subconscious 
belief  it  might  be  sufficient  to  guide  Phinuit,  with  his  hyper- 
sensitiveness  to  suggestions. 

8.  W.  H.  Savage  was  given  a  message  from  Robert  West 
to  his  brother,  apologising  for  an  attack  made  on  him  in 
the  Advance,  which  Mr.  Savage  did  not  know  had  been 
made. 

But  Mrs.  Piper  might  have  seen  this  copy  of  the  Ad- 
vance. 

9.  M.  I.  Savage  was  told  by  Robert  West,  the  spirit, 
that  he  was  buried  at  Alton,  111.,  and  that  the  text  on  his 
stone  was,  "  Fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord."  This 
was  verified  later. 

But  we  are  not  assured  that  this  information,  too,  could 
not  have  been  secured  from  some  paper. 

10.  At  this  same  sitting  the  Rev.  C.  L.  Goodell  claimed 
to  be  present,  whom  Savage  knew  scarcely  any.  Savage 
found  that  he  had  died. 

Again,  we  must  ask  why  Mrs.  Piper  might  not  have 
learned  this  incidentally  from  the  papers? 

11.  Miss  Z.  was  told  that  her  brother's  friend,  Ned,  was 
speaking,  that  her  brother  had  been  kind  to  him  and  had 
spent  a  night  with  him  just  before  his  death.  This  was 
true,  and  though  Miss  Z.  did  know  that  her  brother  had 
been  kind  to  a  poor  boy  who  had  died  of  consumption,  she 
did  not  know  his  name.  The  statement,  however,  is  not  as 
exact  as  could  be  desired,  since  Ned  is  a  nickname  which 
might  stand  for  several  names. 

12.  Miss  Webster  went  to  get  information  about  a  lost 
brother,  who  had  not  been  heard  from  in  three  years. 
Phinuit  said  that  they  would  hear  within  three  weeks,  first 
from  a  friend  and  then  from  the  brother,  and  that  he  would 

61 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

come  home.     The  letters  came  within  the  time,  and  later 
the  boy. 

This  is  so  curiously  exact  that  one  is  tempted  to  ask 
whether  the  prediction  was  written  down  at  the  time 
Phinuit  made  it,  or  only  after  the  boy  came  home. 

13.  Miss  A.  M.  R.  's  spirit  friend  H.  asked  her  how  she 
liked  the  little  drab-coloured  book  which  she  had  been  read- 
ing with  another  person.  The  book  was  covered  with  a 
paper  cover  and  Miss  A.  M.  R.  did  not  know  the  colour  of 
the  cover,  but  found  upon  examination  that  it  was  drab. 

But  is  it  certain  that  Miss  A.  M.  R.  had  not  referred  to 
this  book  before  JMrs.  Piper,  and  that  Mrs.  Piper  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  book  ? 

14.  A  friend  of  Miss  A.  M.  R.  was  told  that  she  would 
not  marry  a  certain  gentleman  with  whom  she  was  then 
very  friendly.  Later,  this  gentleman  had  a  hemorrhage 
and  died  a  few  months  after  their  engagement. 

But  Phinuit  did  not  say  the  gentleman  would  die,  or 
die  of  a  hemorrhage,  and  at  the  time  of  the  prediction, 
which  was  before  the  engagement,  the  lady  might  have  been 
so  doubtful  of  her  own  feelings  that  Phinuit 's  prediction 
could  have  been  made  on  that  ground  alone. 

15.  Mr.  A.  J.  C.  was  told  that  his  niece  had  a  humour  or 
breaking  out,  and  found  that  she  really  had. 

Such  humours  are  not  very  uncommon,  and  perhaps 
there  was  a  tendency  to  it  in  the  family  which  Mrs.  Piper 
knew  or  inferred. 

16.  Mrs.  M.  N.  was  told  that  her  husband's  father  would 
die  very  suddenly,  in  a  few  weeks,  and  he  did. 

But  previous  to  this,  Phinuit  had  told  Mr.  M.  N.  that  a 
near  relative  would  die  in  about  six  weeks,  and  that  he 
would  get  some  pecuniary  advantage  from  it.  This  was  too 
vague  to  be  evidential,  but  Mr.  M.  N.  asked  if  Phinuit  meant 
his  father — ^showing  his  own  fears — and  Phinuit  declined 
to  say.  We  do  not  even  know  whether  Mrs.  Piper  knew 
anything  at  all  about  the  family,  or  could  infer  that  there 

62 


TEST    MESSAGES 

were  aged  relatives  in  feeble  health.  Two  days  after  the 
father  "s  death,  Mr.  ]\I.  N.  went  again  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  at 
that  time  Phiniiit  told  him  that  he  had  tried  before  his 
father's  death  to  persuade  him  to  do  certain  things  about 
his  property,  and  still  later,  Mr.  M.  N.  's  sister  said  that  for 
two  days  before  he  died  their  father  had  complained  of  an 
old  man  who  sat  at  the  foot  of  the  bed  and  insisted  on  talk- 
ing about  his  private  affairs. 

Here  we  have  a  genuine  ghost  story,  and  we  ought  to 
have  also  a  Committee  on  Hallucinations  to  investigate  it. 
We  do  not  know  at  present  (a)  whether  Mrs.  Piper  knew 
much  about  the  M.  N.  family;  (h)  whether  the  sister  con- 
sulted her  as  well  as  the  brother,  and  so  perhaps  betrayed 
facts;  (c)  whether  the  sister  visited  her  after  the  father's 
death  before  the  brother  did,  and  betrayed  the  father's 
dying  hallucination. 

It  is  a  beautiful  story,  but  needs  investigation  before  it 
can  be  accepted. 

17.  Again,  Phinuit  told  Mr.  M.  N.  that  within  two  weeks 
he  would  get  a  professional  offer  either  from  a  man 
named  French  or  a  Frenchman.  The  letter  came,  from  a 
Frenchman. 

The  prophecy  was  designedly  ambiguous,  and  demanded 
but  little  knowledge  of  Mr.  M.  N.'s  business. 

18.  Phinuit  told  Mr.  M.  N.  that  some  relative  had 
hurt  her  thumb.  Later  it  was  found  that  a  cousin  in  Phil- 
adelphia had. 

Out  of  all  the  female  relatives  belonging  to  any  man, 
if  they  do  their  own  housework  or  sewing,  the  chances  are 
very  good  that  one  if  not  more  of  them  will  have  "  hurt  " 
thumbs  at  any  specified  time. 

19.  Mr.  J.  Rogers  Rich  was  told  that  in  a  few  months 
he  would  hear  from  Frank  Lennox,  who  had  gone  across 
the  water  to  ' '  Al — Aula — ' '  and  when  Mr.  Rich  suggested 
Australia,  Phinuit  was  first  puzzled  but  then  assented. 

Within  a  year  a  letter  came  from  the  friend,  saying 

63 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

that  he  had  been  in  Alaska,  the  inference  being  that 
Phinuit  began  to  write  Alaska,  but  was  diverted  by  Mr. 
Rich. 

Even  if  Phinuit  did  begin  to  write  Alaska,  it  would  be 
an  easy  guess. 

20.  A  lady  who  had  had  a  loss  from  fire  wished  to  find 
the  incendiary.  Phinuit  described  the  suspected  person  to 
Mr.  Rich,  who  did  not  know  him,  but  the  description  is  not 
given  in  the  account,  so  that  we  cannot  judge  as  to  its  de- 
tail, and  can  neither  accept  nor  reject  the  incident. 

21.  A  spirit  friend  told  Mr.  Rich  that  his  cousin  was 
visiting  his  brother,  which  was  verified. 

22.  Phinuit  told  Mr.  Rich  that  the  reason  why  a  pre- 
scription which  he  had  given  him  was  not  helping  him  was 
that  his  cook  was  not  preparing  it  according  to  directions. 
This  proved  true. 

23.  Mr.  Rich  was  told  that  he  had  had  a  baby  sister, 
prematurely  born,  some  years  before  his  own  birth.  This 
proved  to  be  true. 

Mr.  Rich  was  greatly  impressed  by  Mrs.  Piper  and  went 
frequently  to  her,  so  that  involuntarily  he  probably  gave 
her  considerable  information  about  his  family,  and  she 
may  have  learned  more  outside,  or  may  have  had  enough 
information  from  him  to  infer  many  of  the  things  which 
he  believed  so  surprising.  Our  lack  of  information  as  to 
how  far  she  had  knowledgre  of  the  family — not  sought  by 
her,  but  incidentally  obtained  and  perhaps  forgotten  by 
her  upper  consciousness — must  make  us  attach  little  im- 
portance to  these  statements. 

24.  Mrs.  C.  was  told  that  a  little  elderly  lady  in  her 
surroundings  would  soon  die.  She  thought  that  her  sister 
was  meant,  but  later  an  aunt  died. 

Here  again  the  description  was  evidently  indefinite,  and 
so  has  no  evidential  value. 

25.  Dr.  Hodgson  and  Mrs.  Holmes  tried  a  series  of  ex- 
periments in  clairvoyance.    At  the  time  of  the  sitting  Mrs. 

64 


TEST    MESSAGES 

Holmes  was  to  write  out  what  she  was  doing,  and  at  the 
same  time  Phinuit  was  to  tell  Dr.  Hodgson  what  she  was 
doing.  Several  sittings  were  devoted  to  this.  At  the  first 
sitting,  from  11.30  to  12.30,  Phinuit  gave  a  running  descrip- 
tion of  what  he  saw  Mrs.  Holmes  doing,  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  in  the  main  correct,  with  two  or  three  false 
incidents,  and  others  omitted.  He  said  that  she  had  been 
putting  some  flowers  in  a  vase,  trimming  off  the  dead  leaves, 
that  she  had  had  the  pillows  changed  in  her  room  and  some 
thing  about  the  bed  changed,  that  she  was  writing  (true, 
but  with  a  planchette),  that  "  Charles  "  was  on  the  sheet 
in  front  of  her,  etc. 

26.  In  the  second  sitting  to  test  this  the  incidents  were 
numbered,  and  out  of  nineteen  the  following  three  were  cor- 
rect :  That  Mrs.  Holmes  had  a  slight  headache ;  that  she  had 
a  little  rheumatism  in  one  leg ;  that  the  daughter  was  think- 
ing about  "  going  away."  (The  daughter  intended  to 
move  into  a  new  house  in  the  fall.) 

We  must  note  that  no  such  careful  notes  were  taken  of 
the  first  sitting  as  of  the  second. 

Two  or  three  other  incidents  were  given  which  might 
have  referred  to  what  the  daughter  was  doing  at  the  time, 
but  not  to  Mrs.  Holmes,  and  one  or  two  others  had  hap- 
pened weeks  before. 

27.  At  the  third  sitting,  out  of  thirty-nine  items  seven 
were  correct,  but  we  are  not  told  how  many  of  these  Hodg 
son  knew.  They  were :  That  Mrs.  Holmes  had  lost  a  little 
baby,  stillborn  or  nearly  so;  that  her  mother  was  a  little 
deaf ;  that  she  had  a  letter  from  Hodgson  on  her  desk  which 
she  was  consulting;  that  she  was  consulting  a  watch  and 
writing  figures;  that  a  little  body  of  water  was  near  her; 
Phinuit  saw  the  name  Margaret  (her  daughter's),  that  she 
liked  Miss  P.  Several  other  things  were  vague,  or  had 
occurred  at  other  times.  It  was  also  correct  that  she  put 
a  red,  wraplike  thing  over  her  shoulders,  and  wrote  in  a 
great  hurry.     Then  Phinuit  told  a  series  of  things,  like 

65 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  daughter's  going  out,  the  mother  walking  about  the 
room,  gathering  flowers,  etc.,  but  omitted  that  she  arranged 
the  flower  stems  to  write  Phinuit,  that  her  writing  was 
to  him. 

28.  At  a  sitting  with  Mrs.  Hohnes,  Phinuit  described 
things  that  Hodgson  was  then  doing,  none  of  which  hap- 
pened at  that  time,  though  some  did  earlier,  save  that  he 
went  for  a  drive.  Mrs.  Piper  knew  where  Hodgson  was 
and  whom  he  was  visiting. 

29.  At  still  another  sitting  with  Miss  Edmunds,  Phinuit 
tried  to  tell  what  Mrs.  Holmes  and  Hodgson  were  doing, 
but  was  very  far  from  the  mark. 

30.  Miss  A.  took  to  Phinuit  a  locket,  ring,  and  watch, 
of  whose  antecedents  she  knew  nothing  and  which  had  no 
initials  on  them.  The  owner  of  the  locket  could  not  verify- 
any  of  the  names  Phinuit  gave  in  connection  with  it; 
other  references  he  thinks  may  be  to  relatives  he  has  heard 
of,  and  he  considered  the  description  Phinuit  gave  of  him- 
self, the  owner,  good. 

Phinuit  also  said  that  the  influence  of  the  ring  was 
bad,  that  some  one  connected  with  it  had  died  of  cancer,  and 
that  some  one  else  was  insane. 

The  owner's  father  really  had  died  of  cancer,  and  he 
had  a  sister  who  had  been  made  idiotic  by  a  fright. 

Phinuit  gave  the  names  of  John,  Joseph,  and  Elizabeth 
in  connection  with  the  watch,  and  the  owner  identified  them, 
but  could  not  verify  the  incidents  told  about  them. 

Now  observe  here  that  Phinuit  actually  gave  nothing 
(except,  perhaps,  the  names)  that  he  might  not  have  ob- 
tained from  the  sitter.  The  description  of  the  owner  was 
obtained  doubtless  through  the  usual  processes  of  fishing. 
Did  the  sitter  know  of  the  owner's  father  and  sister  or 
not?  If  so,  the  only  salient  points  are  explained.  The 
right  guesses  of  names  in  connection  with  the  watch  are 
surely  counterbalanced  by  the  wrong  ones  in  connection 
with  the  locket. 

66 


TEST    MESSAGES 

Certain  very  obvious  comments  may  be  made  upon  all 
these  thirty  eases.  First  of  all,  Mrs.  Piper  was  at  home 
in  Boston  in  these  sittings,  and  no  one  can  say  certainly 
how  much  she  may  have  known  about  any  given  sitter. 
The  sitters  were  introduced,  of  course,  under  assumed 
names,  but  she  expected  that,  and  the  first  task  of  the 
control  was  to  discover  the  sitter's  first  name  and  then  his 
last.  This  is  not  so  difficult  as  it  sounds,  especially  as  in 
those  days  the  sitter  often  hold  one  of  Mrs.  Piper's  hands, 
and  his  involuntary  twitchings  showed  when  she  was  hit- 
ting the  right  letters.  The  name  once  discovered,  in  some 
instances  at  least,  the  control  would  have  some  knowledge 
of  the  sitter  and  could  make  inferences  and  reach  conclu- 
sions without  difficulty. 

In  1897  Dr.  Hodgson  published  accounts  of  further 
seances  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search, and  at  that  time  stated  that  he  had  in  all  records  of 
500  sittings,  of  which  130  were  first  sittings  and  the  sitters 
presumably  unknown  to  Mrs.  Piper.  But  again  he  warns 
us  that  many  of  the  most  evidential  parts  are  too  private 
to  be  published,  and  he  also  states  that  he  does  not  publish 
in  full  all  of  the  other  sittings,  but  selects  only  those  which 
he  considers  typical  either  of  good  or  poor  sittings,  or  im- 
portant because  of  their  evidential  value.  Furthermore,  he 
has  no  stenographic  reports  of  most  of  these — although  at 
this  time  Phinuit  spoke  instead  of  writing  and  so  making 
his  own  record — but  took  notes  himself  in  longhand,  filling 
them  out  afterward,  or  even  accepting  an  account  written 
by  the  sitter  weeks  or  sometimes  months  after  the  sitting. 

Such  incompleteness  and  inaccuracy  seem  inexcusable  in 
a  person  who  knew,  as  Dr.  Hodgson  did,  the  errors  and 
illusions  of  memory  disclosed  by  Mr.  Davey's  seances. 
What  do  scientists  think  of  an  experimenter  who  omits  to 
describe  some  of  the  conditions  of  his  experiment,  or  who 
writes  it  up  from  some  one  else's  account  later  on?  The 
parts  which  Dr.  Hodgson  considers  unimportant  may  be 

67 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  key  to  the  sittings,  from  the  psychologist's  or  psychi- 
atrist's standpoint. 

For  these  reasons  I  should  feel  justified  in  rejecting  any 
so-called  test  message  solely  on  the  ground  that  the  record 
might  be  incomplete,  but  it  is  interesting  to  see  how,  even 
accepting  the  incomplete  account,  there  are  very  few  test 
messages,  and  all  of  them  easily  explicable.  They  are  as 
follows : 

1  and  2.  Phinuit  told  Miss  Hartshorn  that  he  got  the 
name  Sarah.  At  first  she  could  not  recall  any  relative  of 
that  name  but  afterward  remembered  an  aunt.  He  also 
asked  her  what  was  the  matter  with  her  mother 's  foot,  and 
then  she  remembered  some  dropsical  trouble  that  her 
mother  had. 

3.  Phinuit  told  her  that  the  owner  of  a  certain  box  used 
to  carry  little  round  things  in  it  to  eat,  cowchoose.  Later 
she  remembered  that  the  things  were  camomile  flowers  to 
chew. 

4.  He  also  asked  her  if  she  knew  Kittie.  She  did  not, 
but  after  hard  thinking  recalled  a  child  friend  of  that 
name  who  had  died  years  before. 

These  are  all  too  far  from  the  mark  to  be  of  much  value. 
The  shape  and  size  of  the  box  would  show  its  general  pur- 
pose, and  the  name  w^as  incorrect.  The  proper  names  were 
not  especially  apt,  since  the  sitter  had  a  hard  time  recall- 
ing either. 

5.  Phinuit  told  Miss  Maeleod  that  Agnes  would  be  ill. 
This  was  in  March,  and  in  the  fall  Agnes  was  ill  for  the 
first  time  since  childhood  and  was  in  bed  for  a  week. 

If  Agnes  had  fallen  ill  within  six  days  instead  of  six 
months  the  coincidence  would  be  more  convincing. 

6.  He  also  told  her  that  the  last  thing  Etta  saw  on 
dying  was  her  mother's  face.  The  sitter  had  supposed 
Etta's  eyes  closed,  but  later  found  Phinuit 's  statement  true. 

But  Phinuit  says  nothing  about  Etta's  eyes  at  the  time 
death  itself  occurred,  and  surely  it  would  be  natural  for 

68 


TEST    MESSAGES 

him  to  guess  that  the  person  who  would  be  closest  to  the 
dying  child  would  be  the  mother. 

7.  He  also  predicted  the  death  of  the  sitter's   uncle, 
who  was  at  that  time  well,  as  far  as  she  knew.    Two  weeks       ' 
later  the  death  occurred. 

This  is  a  striking  coincidence,  but  we  do  not  know  how 
much  Mrs.  Piper  knew  about  the  family,  on  which  she  could 
make  an  inference. 

8  and  9.  Phinuit  gave  Dr.  Hodgson  a  message  from  John 
]\Ic.  to  his  brother,  asking  him  * '  to  especially  advise  my  son 
John  to  continue  travelling  for  his  health  and  love  to  him 
and  ..."  (Name  here  given  in  full  by  Phinuit.)  At  an- 
other sitting  the  brother  was  told  to  hold  on  for  a  while 
longer  and  the  spirit  would  tell  him  what  to  do.     After-  ^ 

ward  Dr.  Hodgson  was  told  that  the  proper  name  had  a 
special  and  private  significance,  and  that  the  advice  to 
hold  on  was  very  opportune,  coming  in  the  midst  of  busi- 
ness troubles. 

The  advice  to  hold  on  is,  however,  too  general  to  have 
much  evidential  value,  and  we  are  again  quite  in  the  dark 
as  to  whether  Mrs.  Piper  did  not  know  enough  about  the 
family  to  give  the  name. 

10.  Mrs.  Pitman  was  told  that  she  would  be  ill  in  Paris 
with  stomach  trouble,  and  that  a  sandy-complexioned  gen- 
tleman would  take  care  of  her.  Mrs.  Pitman  was  then  ex- 
pecting to  go  abroad,  and  she  was  taken  ill  in  Paris  with 
stomach  trouble,  was  attended  by  a  sandy-haired  doctor, 
and  died  of  her  illness. 

If  only  Phinuit  had  foretold  the  death,  how  much  more 
striking  it  would  have  been !  Surely  it  is  simple  enough  to 
guess  that  a  traveller  eating  new  kinds  of  food  is  likely  to 
have  stomach  trouble,  and  in  guessing  the  sandy-haired 
doctor  the  chances  are  at  least  even  that  the  guess  will  be 
right. 

11.  Mrs.  M.  E.  P.  was  told  that  she  would  leave  her 
home  and  settle  in  the  city  in  a  corner  house.     This  came 

69 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

true,  and  might  easily  have  been  inferred  from  Mrs.  M. 
E.  P.'s  incidental  remarks. 

12.  Dr.  F.  H.  K.  was  told  by  his  Uncle  G.  to  give  his 
love  to  H.  and  tell  her  that  he  saw  the  trouble  with  her 
eyes.  Dr.  F.  H.  K.  later  found  that  H.  was  having  trouble 
with  her  eyes. 

But  we  do  not  know  whether  Dr.  F.  H.  K.  himself  wore 
glasses,  and  so  may  have  suggested  trouble  with  eyes  to 
Phinuit,  or  whether  Mrs.  Piper  knew  anything  about  this 
girl  which  may  have  suggested  eye  troubles. 

13.  Mr.  W.  B.  C.  was  told  that  a  certain  friend  had  a 
cold  and  was  at  home  on  a  couch  with  his  throat  bandaged. 
He  did  have  a  cold,  but  was  not  at  home  with  a  bandaged 
throat. 

This  was  in  February — and  colds  are  common  then. 

14.  He  was  also  told  that  at  that  instant  G.  M.  L.  was 
writing  a  letter  at  his  desk  at  home. 

This  was  not  positively  verified  and  so  is  not  evidential. 

15.  Phinuit  gave  Mr.  Thaw  a  nickname  unknown  to 
any  one  present  for  a  friend  of  his,  which  his  widow  said 
later  was  the  one  used  by  his  mother  and  sisters. 

16.  Phinuit  called  Mrs.  Thaw's  dead  aunt  Ann  Eliza. 
They  knew  her  only  as  Eliza,  and  only  later  discovered  that 
her  first  name  was  Anna. 

But  Mrs.  Piper  was  at  the  Thaws '  and  had  various  op- 
portunities to  hear  about  their  family  and  friends. 

17.  Phinuit  told  Mr.  Perkins  that  his  father  believed 
that  he  had  heart  trouble,  though  he  really  had  not.  The 
father  admitted  this  later,  but  said  that  he  had  not  told  his 
fear  even  to  the  doctor. 

18.  The  Thaws  were  told  that  W.  was  coming  to  them 
soon  and  that  his  kidneys  were  out  of  order.  This  was  not 
suspected  at  the  time,  but  was  discovered  two  months  later, 
and  five  months  afterward  he  died  in  his  sleep  of  heart 
failure. 

19.  Miss  Heffern  was  told  to  put  the  thing  she  had  in 

70 


TEST    MESSAGES 

her  lap  abont  her  neck  as  her  mother  had  told  her.  She 
had  supposed  that  the  object,  which  was  done  up  in  paper, 
was  a  lock  of  hair,  but  it  proved  to  be  an  Agnus  Dei,  which 
her  mother  had  told  her  to  wear  about  her  neck. 

The  last  three  incidents  are  more  striking  than  the 
others,  if  the  incidents  occurred  as  told,  but  when  we  con- 
sider the  possibilities  of  error  in  the  report  we  cannot  at- 
tach any  importance  to  them.  We  do  not  know  enough 
about  the  conditions. 

These  complete  the  incidents  in  Hodgson's  series  which 
were  unknown  to  the  sitter  at  the  time  they  were  given, 
but  later  proved  true. 


CHAPTER   V 

TEST    MESSAGES    (Continued) 

The  Piper  case  entered  upon  a  new  phase  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  spirit  father  of  Prof.  James  H.  Hyslop,  in 
1898.  Professor  Hyslop 's  account  of  his  experiences  ap- 
pears in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search, vol.  xvi,  1901,  and  fills  649  pages. 

Hyslop  entered  upon  this  investigation,  he  says,  as  a 
sceptic,  and  with  the  intention  of  making  the  conditions  of 
the  seances  so  rigid  that  the  most  carping  critic  could  not 
detect  flaws  in  them.  He  made  no  attempt,  however,  to 
prevent  Mrs.  Piper  from  obtaining  information  through 
inquiries,  etc.,  because  he  believed  that  her  good  faith  was 
so  securely  established  during  the  previous  ten  years  of 
experimenting  that  no  person  "  of  any  intelligence  "  could 
doubt  it.  His  ingenuity  was  entirely  directed  toward  mak- 
ing it  impossible  for  the  controls  to  get  any  information 
from  him. 

To  this  end  he  wore  a  mask  and  did  not  speak  at  the 
first  two  sittings,  until  Mrs,  Piper  had  given  his  name,  after 
which  he  thought  these  precautions  unnecessary.  Also,  no 
one  knew  that  he  was  to  have  sittings  save  Dr,  Hodgson 
and  his  secretary.  Miss  Edmunds,  and  both  of  them  are 
sure  that  they  did  not  tell  any  one. 

During  all  the  sittings  he  never  spoke  to  Mrs.  Piper 
in  her  normal  state  but  twice,  and  then  in  an  assumed  voice. 
He  used  his  normal  voice  during  the  trance.  In  order  to 
exclude  muscular  suggestion,  he  never  touched  Mrs.  Piper, 
save  on  the  few  recorded  occasions,  and  perhaps  half  a 
dozen  other  times  when  he  seized  the  hand  to  straighten  it 

72 


TEST    MESSAGES 

on  the  writing  pad.  And  during  the  sitting,  he  stood  be- 
hind and  to  Mrs.  Piper's  right,  where  she  could  not  have 
seen  him  even  if  her  eyes  had  been  open,  or  get  any  sug- 
gestion from  his  expression,  etc. 

The  records  are  complete,  with  true  names,  every  word 
spoken  during  the  sitting  being  recorded,  except  some  that 
were  inaudible,  and  such  phrases  as  "  Wait  a  moment, 
please,"  used  by  Hodgson  when  the  paper  had  to  be  turned 
or  a  new  piece  substituted.  The  record  was  taken  thus: 
Hodgson  sat  near  the  table  where  he  could  see  the  writing, 
he  or  Hyslop  read  it  aloud  in  a  low  voice,  and  he  copied 
as  much  of  it  as  he  could,  while  also  taking  remarks  by 
himself  and  Hyslop  and  adding  explanatory  matter. 
After  the  sitting  they  went  over  the  automatic  writing  and 
completed  it,  and  had  typewritten  copies  made  and  sent 
to  the  printer,  whose  proofs  were  compared  with  and  cor- 
rected by  the  automatic  writing.  This  would  seem  to  make 
the  record  as  complete  and  accurate  as  it  well  could  be, 
so  far  as  words  go. 

With  these  precautions  Hyslop  is  confident  that  he  has 
excluded  all  possibility  of  any  suggestion  from  the  sitter 
which  is  not  indicated  in  the  record  by  the  sitter's  words, 
and  that  therefore  the  straight  issue  can  be  made  as  to 
where  ]\Irs.  Piper  gets  the  information  given  in  the  mes- 
sages, without  implicating  the  sitter  as  either  a  voluntary 
or  an  involuntary  source  of  information. 

The  first  question  then  is  as  to  whether  the  precautions 
really  were  sufficient.  With  regard  to  the  assumption  that 
because  Mrs.  Piper  was  never  detected  in  fraud  in  the  early 
days,  we  can  assume  further  that  she  never  uses  any  pos- 
sible sources  of  information,  certain  remarks  may  be  made. 
Every  additional  successful  year  must  make  the  temptation 
greater  for  ]\Irs.  Piper's  controls  to  use  all  means  to  suc- 
ceed, and  as  we  shall  see  later,  the  Hodgson  control  of  to- 
day evades,  deceives,  and  blusters  in  order  to  mislead  the 
sitter  quite  as  much  as  Phinuit  ever  did.  But  it  seems  to  us 
8  73 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

that  further,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  it  would  be 
humanly  impossible  for  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper  not  to  cul- 
tivate a  memory  for  personal  incidents,  chance  bits  of  in- 
formation, a  love  of  directories,  etc.,  and  that  her  sub- 
conscious mind  must  always  be  on  the  alert  to  group 
together  all  the  facts  relevant  to  any  probable  sitter.  In 
the  twelve  years  of  experience  before  Hyslop  came  to  her, 
she  could  hardly  have  avoided  gaining  general  impressions 
of  the  class  of  men  who  were  her  sitters,  and  whether  she 
was  very  fully  conscious  of  it  or  not,  it  is  altogether  prob- 
able that  Hyslop  had  been  tagged  in  her  mind  as  a  pos- 
sible sitter,  together  with  others. 

Let  us  grant  that  even  if  she  could  she  would  not  send 
agents  to  get  information  about  sitters.  Still  it  would 
scarcely  be  possible  for  her  not  to  be  instinctively  inter- 
ested in  any  one  whom  she  knew  to  be  interested  in  Psychical 
Research.  Facts  thus  obtained  by  the  normal  self  might 
soon  drop  below  the  conscious  memory,  and  be  available 
for  the  controls  at  any  time. 

In  the  next  place,  while  it  is  true  that  Hyslop 's  precau- 
tions are  greater  than  those  of  any  previous  sitter,  there 
are  certain  difficulties  inherent  in  any  sitting  which  he  does 
not  consider.  He  states  that  as  the  writing  progressed, 
either  he  or  Dr.  Hodgson  read  it  aloud  in  order  to  be  sure 
that  they  understood  it.  Dr.  Hall  and  I  also  did  this,  and 
when  I  consider  how  much  the  control  obtained  thus 
through  our  inflections  I  am  certain  that  he  also  obtained 
much  from  Hodgson  and  Hyslop,  and  probably  more,  be- 
cause they  were  intensely  in  earnest  and  inclined  to  belief, 
and  therefore  would  involuntarily  betray  more  of  their 
deep  feeling  than  would  we,  who  had  no  feeling.  With 
regard  to  the  amount  of  suggestion  thus  obtained,  Hyslop 
gives  iLS  a  sidelight  apropos  of  the  possibility  of  Hodgson 
himself  being  implicated  in  fraud.  He  says  that  Hodgson 
was  often  not  present  at  his  sittings,  and  that  if  anything, 
the  writing  was  more  relevant  at  those  times.     That  is, 

74 


TEST    MESSAGES 

when  Hyslop,  who  knew  numerous  details,  was  reading, 
more  details  were  given  than  when  Hodgson,  who  knew 
only  part,  read.  {Proceedings,  vol,  xvi,  p.  7.)  I  do  not 
see  how  any  one  who  has  sat  with  Mrs.  Piper  aud  knows 
her  sensitiveness  to  sounds  can  question  that  in  this  way 
any  sitter  betrays  much. 

We  feel  justified,  therefore,  in  spite  of  Hyslop 's  often- 
repeated  assertions  that  all  of  his  sittings  were  under  the 
strictest  conditions,  and  were  all  evidential,  in  concluding 
that  in  his  sittings,  as  in  all  others,  the  only  messages  that 
need  to  be  considered  as  even  prima  facie  tests  are  those  in 
which  the  content  was  unknown  to  the  sitters  and  was  later 
verified.    These  are  as  follows: 

1.  Hyslop 's  father  (that  is,  his  purported  spirit)  asks 
if  he  remembers  the  story  that  he  used  to  tell  him  about  a 
fire.  Hyslop  did  not,  but  later  his  stepmother  and  sister 
said  that  his  father  was  always  afraid  that  his  barn 
would  burn,  and  on  one  occasion  was  greatly  alarmed 
because  he  believed  that  another  fire  was  his  own  barn 
burning. 

Note  here  that  the  real  point,  viz.,  that  Hyslop,  Sr.,  told 
his  son  a  story  about  a  fire  is  not  proved ;  only  a  presump- 
tion is  created  that  because  he  thought  about  fires  he  would 
tell  stories  about  them. 

2.  In  describing  his  last  illness  he  said  that  his  eyes  had 
troubled  him,  which  was  true,  but  unknown  to  Hyslop. 

3.  Hyslop,  Sr.,  referred  to  a  little  brown-handled  knife 
that  he  said  he  carried  in  his  vest  and  coat  pocket.  Hyslop 
did  not  know  of  any  such,  but  his  stepmother  and  sister 
remembered  it,  but  said  that  he  carried  it  in  his  *'  pants 
pocket. ' ' 

4.  He  said  that  strychnine  was  one  of  the  medicines  he 
took  in  his  last  illness.  Hyslop  did  not  remember  this,  but 
later  found  an  old  letter  from  his  father  in  which  he  said 
that  he  was  taking  strychnine  and  arsenic. 

These  three  incidents  are  surely  not  very  evidential. 

75 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

The  medicines  referred  to  are  frequently  given  and  might 
be  guessed  by  any  one,  while  any  elderly  person  is  likely 
to  have  trouble  with  his  eyes  when  ill.  The  brown-handled 
knife,  too,  is  so  common  a  sort  of  possession  that  it  would 
be  a  relatively  safe  guess. 

5.  The  father  asked  if  his  son  remembered  their  talks 
about  Swedenborg.  He  did,  but  only  vaguely.  But  both 
father  and  son  were  much  interested  in  religious  matters 
and  especially  in  immortality,  and  Swedenborg  would  be 
sure  to  come  up  at  some  time  in  conversation  between  two 
such  persons.  We  may  also  think  it  probable  that  Mrs. 
Piper  would  have  some  knowledge  of  all  the  prominent  peo- 
ple who  had  powers  akin  to  her  own. 

6.  The  father  asked,  ' '  And  do  you  remember  Thorn . . . 
Tom.  .  .  I  mean  the  horse."  Hyslop  was  completely  sur- 
prised by  this  reference  to  a  favorite  horse  of  his  father. 

7.  "Do  you  remember  Peter,  ..  who  was.,  or  be- 
longed to  Nanie  ?  ' '  Hyslop  saw  no  meaning  in  this  at  the 
time,  but  later  found  that  the  cousin  who,  he  supposed, 
asked  this  question  had  had  a  dog  named  Peter  when  he 
was  between  two  and  four  years  old,  but  it  seems  to  have 
had  no  connection  with  Nanie. 

Here  there  are  two  doubts:  first,  that  it  really  was  the 
cousin  who  was  speaking,  and  second,  that  the  dog  was  re- 
ferred to.  There  is  nothing  in  the  message  to  indicate  that 
it  was  a  dog,  and  as  it  is  connected  with  Nanie,  who  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  dog,  the  presumption  might  be  just 
the  opposite  from  what  Hyslop  makes  it. 

8.  The  father  said  that  he  used  to  read  the  paper  in  his 
chair,  and  the  stepmother  confirmed  this  remark. 

Most  elderly  men  at  home  read  the  paper  in  "  their  " 
chairs.  This  is  really  too  trivial  and  commonplace  to  be 
worth  remark. 

9.  The  father  asked  if  his  son  remembered  the  visit  that 
he  had  paid  to  him  just  before  his  death.  Hyslop  did  not, 
but  later  found  that  he  had  totally  forgotten  a  visit  his 

76 


TEST    MESSAGES 

father  had  paid  him  several  years  before  his  death,  and  so 
he  counts  this  remark  as  correct. 

This  is  a  favourable  sample  of  the  way  in  which  Hyslop 
secures  his  large  number  of  correct  items.  Any  father 
would  be  presumed  to  pay  visits  to  his  children  from  time 
to  time,  and  so  the  only  evidential  part  of  the  item  is  the 
statement  that  a  particular  visit  came  just  before  his  death, 
but  this  is  totally  wrong. 

10.  A  new  spirit  suddenly  appeared  and,  without  an- 
nouncing who  he  was,  asked,  '*  Where  is  the  book  of 
poems?  "  Hyslop  inferred  that  this  was  a  certain  cousin, 
and  upon  inquiry  found  that  in  his  last  illness  he  had  had 
a  book  read  to  him  in  which  there  was  a  poem  at  the  end 
of  each  chapter. 

Here,  of  course,  there  are  one  doubt  and  one  mistake. 
The  doubt  is  as  to  whether  the  spirit  really  was  this  cousin. 
The  mistake  is  in  calling  a  book  of  prose  with  occasional 
poems  in  it  a  book  of  poetry. 

11.  James  McLellan  said  that  his  brother  John  would 
be  there  soon,  the  context  indicating  plainly  that  James 
meant  that  his  brother  would  soon  die  and  join  him.  It 
turned  out,  however,  that  John  had  already  died,  nearly  a 
year  before,  and  of  course  the  control  proceeds  to  explain 
his  ambiguous  phrases  and  Hyslop  accepts  the  explanation. 

12.  The  same  control  said  that  the  same  John  had  had  a 
sunstroke  from  which  he  had  never  fully  recovered.  After 
much  labour,  Hyslop  found  that  once  he  had  been  a  little 
overcome  from  the  heat  but  had  never  suffered  permanently 
from  it,  and  yet  he  counts  this  statement  as  correct. 

13.  The  father  said  that  he  had  had  a  box  of  minerals 
when  he  was  a  boy.  Hyslop  found  that  he  had  had  a  box 
of  Indian  arrow  heads  and  relics,  and  so  counts  this  as  cor- 
rect. But  Indian  arrow  heads  are  not  minerals,  and  min- 
erals are  something  practically  every  child  makes  a  collec- 
tion of  at  some  time,  so  that  the  guess  was  an  easy  one. 

14.  The  father  spoke  of  visits  to  Hyslop 's  brother  w^hich 

77 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Hyslop  did  not  remember.  But  do  not  most  fathers  visit 
their  children  1  Any  one  could  make  such  a  reference  with- 
out knowing  anything  whatever  about  a  family. 

15.  The  father  said  that  they  had  put  an  organ  into  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  at  his  former  home,  and  Hys- 
lop found  that  this  really  had  been  done  a  few  months 
before. 

But  the  control  left  the  time  when  this  had  been  done 
indefinite,  so  that  if  it  had  happened  at  any  time  in  the 
years  after  the  father's  death  it  might  have  been  counted 
as  correct.  Further,  if  the  control  knew,  as  he  probably 
did,  the  change  of  sentiment  in  recent  years  in  the  stricter 
denominations  with  regard  to  using  musical  instruments 
in  churches,  he  would  be  entirely  safe  in  making  such  a 
guess. 

16-19.  In  the  five  sittings  which  Hodgson  held  for  Hys- 
lop, Hyslop,  Sr.,  said  that  he  used  to  pore  over  the  pages 
of  his  books  and  write  out  little  extracts  in  his  diary.  He 
did  make  extracts,  but  wrote  them  on  slips  of  paper — and 
this  was  the  characteristic  item. 

Again,  he  said  that  one  tune  was  running  through  his 
mind,  '*  Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee,"  and  his  wife  said  he 
had  a  particular  aversion  to  this  hymn.  It  looks  here  as  if 
the  control  in  guessing  a  common  favourite  struck  it  right 
by  contraries. 

Again,  he  said  he  kept  his  spectacle  case  on  his  desk, 
and  near  it  a  paper  cutter,  a  writing  pad,  a  number  of 
' '  rests, ' '  and  a  square  and  a  round  bottle.  He  did  not  keep 
his  spectacle  case  nor  paper  cutter  in  his  desk,  but  (strange 
to  say ! )  did  have  two  ink  bottles,  a  square  and  a  round  one. 
The  ' '  rests  ' '  Hyslop  identifies  with  the  pigeon  holes  of  the 
desk,  though  it  is  hard  to  see  why.  Out  of  all  these  items 
the  two  of  the  bottles  alone  are  correct,  but  the  whole  state- 
ment is  counted  correct. 

In  another  sitting  he  refers  to  the  roughness  of  the 
roads. 

78 


TEST    MESSAGES 

In  these  sittings  for  Hyslop  there  is  really  not  one  in- 
cident which  might  not  have  been  guessed,  or  which  may 
not  have  been  known  to  Hodgson  in  a  general  way.  Any  one 
with  a  desk  is  likely  to  have  writing  pads  and  bottles  in  it, 
and  any  one  who  reads  is  likely  to  make  extracts  from  his 
books.  Hodgson  knew  that  Hyslop,  Sr.,  had  lived  in  a 
country  district,  and  might  easily  have  given  that  impres- 
sion to  the  medium,  who  would  doubtless  infer  rough  roads 
from  it,  especially  since  it  was  what  she  would  call  "  out 
West,"  in  Ohio. 

But  the  most  interesting  part  of  these  five  sittings  is  to 
be  found  in  the  illustrations  of  the  way  in  which  Hyslop 
interprets  the  remarks  of  the  controls.  Some  of  these  are 
worth  quoting  verbatim  as  illustrative  of  the  way  in  which 
he  gets  his  large  percentage  of  correct  facts. 

In  one  sitting,  Hyslop,  Sr.,  says  to  Hodgson:  '*  I  am 
thinking  of  the  time  some  years  ago  when  I  went  into  the 
mountains  for  a  change  with  him,  and  the  trip  we  had  to 
the  lake  after  we  left  the  camp."  Hyslop 's  contemporary 
note  on  this  is:  "  Father  never  went  into  the  mountains 
with  me  nor  to  the  lake.  Also,  the  allusion  to  his  doing  this 
after  leaving  the  camp  has  no  meaning  whatever.  ...  It 
would  require  a  great  deal  of  twisting  and  forced  interpre- 
tation to  discover  any  truth  in  the  statements." 

Six  months  later,  he  writes :  ' '  That  the  reader  may  see 
how  nearly  the  passage  is  to  being  absolutely  correct,  I  may 
be  allowed  to  reconstruct  it  somewhat  with  the  imaginary 
confusion  that  ends  in  '  mountains  '  and  '  camp.'  If  we 
assume  anything  like  the  trouble  that  was  manifest  in  the 
guitar  incident,   the  following  is  conceivable : 

'*  [Hyslop,  Sr.,  speaks:]  '  I  am  thinking  of  the  time 
some  years  ago  when  I  went  into  (Father  says  Illinois. 
Rector  does  not  understand  this  and  asks  if  he  means  hilly. 
Father  says,  '  no,  prairies.'  Rector  does  not  understand. 
Father  says  '  no  mountains.'  Rector  understands  this  as 
'  No!     Mountains,'   and  continues,)    the  mountains  for  a 

79 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

change  with  him  and  the  trip  we  had  to  the  lake,  after  we 
left  (Father  says  Champaign.  Rector  understands  camp, 
and  continues)  the  camp. '  The  name  of  the  town  is  usually 
pronounced  shampane,  and  according  to  my  stepmother 
my  father  so  pronounced  it  when  living,  though  my  own 
recollection  is  that  he  often  pronounced  it  Campane.  But, 
of  course,  we  do  not  know  the  various  tendencies  to  error 
which  occur  in  the  transmission  of  such  messages."  Of 
course  not! 

Again,  Hyslop,  Sr.,  asks,  "  Do  you  remember  a  little 
black  skull  cap  I  used  to  wear  and  what  has  become  of  it  ?  " 
On  inquiry,  Hyslop 's  stepmother  wrote  emphatically  that 
he  never  wore  a  skull  cap  in  the  daytime,  and  never  but 
once  at  night,  though  he  always  complained  of  his  head 
being  cold.  Hyslop  says  of  this :  "  I  took  this  as  sufficient 
to  condemn  the  reference,  but  it  has  occurred  to  me  since 
this  frequent  reference  to  the  cap  that  the  wish  in  life  to 
have  some  covering  for  his  head,  which  was  very  bald,  and 
which  suffered  from  the  cold,  might  here  crop  up  as  an 
automatism."   !  ! 

Again,  Hyslop,  Sr.,  was  trying  to  recall  the  medicines 
which  he  used  in  his  last  illness,  and  asked  if  malt  was  one 
of  them,  or  maltine.  Hyslop  remarks :  ' '  This  allusion  to 
maltine  here  is  very  singular.  . .  The  singular  fact  is 
that  I  had  sent  the  spectacle  case  and  contents  to  Dr.  H. 
in  an  old  maltine  box,  and  this  box  was  on  the  floor,  out  of 
which  the  spectacle  case  was  taken  a  moment  afterward." 
In  a  later  note  he  adds  that  he  knew  that  ]\Irs.  Piper  had 

not  seen  the  box  in  her  normal  condition "  Hence 

I  wrote  to  my  brother,  stepmother,  and  sister  to  know 
whether  father  had  ever  taken  any  maltine  or  contemplated 
taking  it."  The  stepmother  and  sister  doubted  it,  and  the 
brother  says  that  he  advised  it,  but  the  father  did  not  do  it. 
Then  Hyslop  concludes:  "  The  specific  place  which  my 
brother's  advice  would  have  in  his  (the  father's)  mind 
would  naturally  occur  to  him  or  any  one  else  trying  to  think 

80 


TEST    MESSAGES 

over  the  efforts  to  stay  the  disease  with  which  he  was  suf- 
fering, though  we  must  wonder  why  he  did  not  name  a 
more  familiar  medicine  which  I  had  in  mind  when  I  put 
my  question." 

The  sceptic  might  suggest  that  the  more  familiar  medi- 
cine was  not  named  on  a  handy  box  which  the  medium 
probably  caught  a  glimpse  of. 

Again,  this  is  the  way  in  which  the  control  gave  the 
name  of  Ilyslop  's  sister  Henrietta : 

The  hand  firet  made  various  attempts,  writing  A  Nabbse, 
Abbie,  Addie,  saying  it  was  his  sister,  until  Hyslop 
said :  ^ 

"  (Oh,  well,  I  know.  I  know  who  you  mean  now.  Yes. 
I  know  who  you  mean  now.  But  it  is  not  spelled  quite 
right.) 

H  Abbie. 

(The  letter  H  is  right.) 

Yes,  but  let  me  hear  it  and  I  will  get  it.    G.  P.  Hattie. 
(That  is  very  nearly  right.) 
Harriet. 

(Pretty  nearly.     Try  it  one  letter  at  a  time.) 
HETTIE.  G.  P. 

(That  is  right.  Yes.  That  is  right  and  fine.)  " 
Hyslop  adds  in  a  note:  "  The  nickname  Hettie  is  cor- 
rect for  her,  though  we  never  called  her  that,  at  least  I 
never  did  so,  and  I  know  some  of  the  others  and  her  friends 
called  her  Etta.  This  seems  to  have  been  written  partly 
at  the  end,  '  Ett.  . '  But  it  was  near  enough  for  me  to 
recognise  it  clearly  for  Henrietta,  and  I  did  not  press  for 
this  last,  which  was  probably  not  the  natural  form  of  using 
her  name." 

So  the  spirit  father  gave  his  daughter  a  nickname  never 

1  In  quoting  from  any  sitting,  everything  between  the  double 
quotations  "  "  is  taken  exactly  from  the  report.  The  sitter's  remarks 
are  between  parentheses  (  )  ;  the  control's  have  no  marks;  remarks 
between  brackets  [  ]  are  the  sitter's  comments  on  the  sitting. 

81 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

used  by  any  one,  which  he  evidently  supposed  to  be  an 
abbreviation  of  Harriet  instead  of  her  real  name,  Henrietta, 
and  yet  it  is  accepted  by  Hyslop  as  correct. 

In  one  of  the  Hodgson  sittings  for  Hyslop,  Hyslop  sent 
this  question  for  his  father:  "  Do  you  remember  Samuel 
Cooper,  and  can  you  say  anything  about  him?  " 

The  father  answered,  "  He  refers  to  the  old  friend  of 
mine  in  the  West, ' '  and  said  that  they  had  talked  on  philo- 
sophical topics. 

Hyslop  at  first  thought  this  all  nonsense,  but  later 
learned  that  his  father  did  know  a  Joseph  Cooper  with 
whom  he  had  had  many  religious  discussions.  Unfortu- 
nately, Joseph  lived  in  Allegheny,  east  of  their  home,  but 
he  founded  a  Cooper  School  far  west  of  their  home,  and 
perhaps  this  confused  the  spirit  Hyslop ! 

These  comprise  all  the  incidents  of  importance  unknown' 
to  the  sitter  and  later  verified.     As  the  reader  can  see  for 
himself,  many  of  them  are  partly  or  wholly  wrong,  or  are 
so  commonplace  that  any  one  could  have  guessed  them. 

In  spite  of  Professor  Hyslop 's  own  peculiar  facility  in 
guessing  the  meaning  of  the  controls,  it  seems  to  be  pecul- 
iarly aggravating  to  him  to  allow  others  the  same  priv- 
ileges of  interpreting,  and  especially  so  to  have  them 
assume  that  the  controls  are  fishing  and  guessing.  One 
hesitates  to  bring  down  his  vials  of  Avrath  upon  one 's  head, 
but  the  more  one  goes  over  all  the  sittings,  and  especially 
his  own,  the  more  this  theory  is  forced  upon  one,  especially 
when  one  considers  that  these  110  "  test  messages  "  were 
scattered  over  twelve  years  of  sittings,  making  an  average 
of  only  ten  a  year. 

Looking  at  the  various  reports  with  this  time  perspec- 
tive. Count  Petrovo-Solovovo 's  remark  seems  amply  justi- 
fied that  the  importance  of  Mrs.  Piper's  trance  utterances 
and  writings  is  enormously  exaggerated  by  her  ardent 
followers. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  series  of  sittings,  perhaps 

82 


TEST    MESSAGES 

the  most  interesting  from  some  standpoints,  is  Professor 
Newbold's.  Seven  sittings  were  held  for  him  by  Hodgson, 
and  he  himself  was  present  at  twenty-six.  Of  those  seven, 
five  occurred  before  he  saw  Mrs.  Piper  at  all.  He  sent 
various  articles  to  Hodgson  to  give  to  Phinuit,  who  talked 
volubly  about  them  through  five  sittings,  and  gave  practi- 
cally nothing  correct.  Hodgson  notes  here  that  "  none  of 
these  articles  fulfilled  the  condition  of  having  been  worn 
much  or  exclusively  by  one  person." 

In  the  twenty-six  sittings  at  which  Newbold  was  pres- 
ent, there  is  not  one  incident  unknown  to  him  and  later 
verified,  and  most  of  the  sittings,  as  he  says  very  frankly, 
are  unintelligible  nonsense.  He  records  more  carefully  than 
Hodgson  the  various  tentative  efforts  of  the  medium  in  get- 
ting names,  etc.,  and  on  this  account  his  records  are  invalu- 
able as  a  check  on  the  others.  It  should  be  noted,  too,  that 
at  his  first  meeting  with  Mrs.  Piper  she  could  not  go  into 
a  trance  at  all,  and  at  the  first  sitting  the  results  were 
very  unsatisfactory,  even  more  so  than  later. 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  fishing  is  in  the  pur- 
ported translation  of  Greek  by  George  Pelham,  who  was  a 
good  linguist  while  on  this  side.  At  a  previous  seance  Pel- 
ham  had  given  incorrectly  the  common  Latin  phrase,  Fania 
semper  vivat,  as  Fama  tempus  vivat,  and  was  unable  to 
see  how  he  was  incorrect,  though  Newbold  called  his  atten- 
tion to  it.  Newbold  then  tried  to  get  the  Latirt  motto  of 
the  Tavern  Club,  and  the  hand  wrote  a  lot  of  illegible 
scrawls,  among  which  he  thought  he  detected  certain  words. 
He  then  asked  whether  they  were  Due  vir,  and  the  hand 
said  that  they  were,  and  also  that  the  translation  "  Lead 
the  way,"  was  the  correct  one. 

Then  Newbold  suggested  that  they  should  try  some 
Greek,  and  the  hand  assented.  Accordingly,  he  spoke  the 
first  phrase  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  Greek :  liarrjp  rjfiwv  6 
iv  rot?  ovpavoi,<i,  or,  in  English  characters,  "  pater  hemon  ho 
en  tois  ouranois."    Literally  translated  this  is,  "  father  of 

83 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

us  who  in  the  Heavens. ' '    Here  follows  Newbold  's  account 
of  the  translation. 

After  speaking  the  phrase  he  asked : 

"  (Did  you  catch  it?) 

"  No,  not  exactly,  slowly.  Pater.  .1  say  .  .Pae.  .Pater. . 
pater.. good  hemon..  [illegible.]  he.  .hemon.  .urano  is.. 
and  translation ...  Good ...  love  [?  illegible.]  Love  [?] 
Love  [  ?]  .  .father  is  in.  .  that  is  right.  .  " 

Notice  here  how  soon  the  fishing  process  has  begun. 
The  control  gets  no  encouragement  on  the  indistinct  word 
supposed  to  be  love  and  so  drops  that.  The  Greek  pater 
sounds  exactly  like  the  Latin  pater,  and  every  one  knows 
the  meaning  of  that  word  whether  he  has  ever  studied 
Latin  or  not.  En  would  naturally  be  guessed  as  in,  and 
so  we  have  two  words  of  the  "  translation  "  already. 

"  (All  right,  but  go  ahead.) 

* '  I  cannot  quite  catch  that  B .  .  yes .  .  Patience .  .  well, 
you  have  it,  B .  . 

"  [Throughout  both  Mr.  0.  and  I  frequently  repeated 
the  words  and  spelled  them  both  in  Greek  and  English.]  " 

And  who  can  doubt  that  thus  they  also  gave  many  un- 
suspected clews  to  the  control? 

"  Father  is  in.  .tois  ou  ou  nois  our  .  .B.  .  Patience  my 
boy .  .  Father  is  in  Heavens. 

"  (One  word  is  left  out,  George.) 

"  Spell  it  slowly. 

"  (Greek  or  English?) 

"  Greek,  of  course. 

"  [We  do  so,    Hemon.] 

' '  Father  is  in  the  Heaven .  .  I  not  catch .  .  slowly  now, 
speak  those  letters  separately,  my  boy.  .   ae.  .   mon. 

"  (Rough  breathing  now,  hemon.) 

' '  Heaven .  .  Yes .  .  too  bad,  old  chap . . 

**  [I  read  bad  as  hard.] 

**  Bad,  I  say.    I'll  catch  it." 

Note  here  the  various  tentatives.     Ou  ou  nois  is  con- 

84 


TEST    MESSAGES 

nected  with  our,  but  as  no  indications  are  given  of  its  cor- 
rectness, it  is  dropped  for  a  time.  Hemon  was  guessed  at 
as  Heaven,  and  when  the  control  was  told  that  the  one 
untranslated  word  was  hemon  he  was  confused,  repeated 
his  own  translation,  said  he  could  not  catch  it,  and  then 
went  on,  pointing  to  0. 

"  Now  you  say  it.  Let  me  see  if  it  will  reach  me  any- 
better. 

"  [0.  says  it.  Hand  gesticulates  and  twists  so  as  to 
get  O.'s  mouth  close  to  the  outer  side  of  the  hand,  just  be- 
low the  root  of  the  little  finger.] 

"  My  ear. 

*'  [I  explain  that  he  means  that  his  spirit  ear  is  located 
there.] 

"  Certainly,  my  ear.  . .  .EMO. .  that  is  what  bothers 
me .  .  Father  is .  .  was .  .  now .  .  no .  .  Father .  .  our .  . 

"  [Quickly  and  \\4th  excitement]  OUR  OU  [Then 
slowly  and  reverently,  in  capital  letters]  OUR  FATHER 
IS  IN  HEAVEN. 

"  (Good.) 

*'  [We  all  shake  hands  over  it.] 

**  (We  generally  put  it,  Our  father  who  art  in  Heaven.) 

**  [Excitement  in  the  hand.]  Yes,  I  remember  that, 
too." 

Here  again  notice  the  attempts  beginning  with  EMO, 
and  the  pauses  in  which,  doubtless,  the  control  was  waiting 
indications  that  he  was  right.  When  he  gave  *'  our  " 
again,  the  two  sitters  gave  some  involuntarily  different  re- 
action from  what  they  had  given  to  the  other  words. 
"  Our  "  was  then  repeated  in  capitals,  and  the  favourable 
signs  being  given  again  the  control  had  all  that  he  needed 
and  gave  the  sentence,  but  without  even  then  connecting  it 
with  the  Lord's  Prayer,  as  is  evident  by  the  excitement 
shown  when  Newbold  gave  the  usual  rendering.  And  yet, 
if  there  had  really  been  any  translating  at  all,  instead  of 
guessing,  this  connotation  could  hardly  have  been  avoided, 

85 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

because  the  phrase  is  one  of  the  earliest  learned  and  best 
known  in  Greek. 

This  result  seemed  so  surprising,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Piper  knew^  no  Greek,  that  Newbold  tried  another 
Greek  sentence,  ""Ouk  eari  0dvaTo<;. — There  is  no  death, " 
choosing  very  simple  Greek  words  on  the  thought  upper- 
most in  all  their  minds. 

These  were  given  four  days  after  the  last  recounted 
effort.  Pelham  asked  them  to  call  in  Moses,  who  was  a 
notable  Greek  scholar  while  alive,  and  the  result  was  con- 
fusion worse  confounded.  Moses  apparently,  in  the  first 
phrase,  "  Ouk  esti  tJianatos,^'  took  the  Ouk  to  mean  light, 
apparently  from  the  Latin  Lux,  and  could  get  no  further. 
On  the  two  following  days  renewed  attempts  were  equally 
unsuccessful,  but  four  days  later,  when  Hodgson  alone  was 
present,  while  G.  P.  w^as  talking  about  something  else,  the 
hand  suddenly  asked,  "  Who  said  there  was  no  death?  " 

"  [Hand  moves  forward  as  though  '  speiring  '  into  the 
vacant  space.]     Moses. 

''  (Ask  Moses  what  he  means  by  that?) 

"  Well,  you  interrupt  me.    Well,  I  must  say,  old  chap. 

*'  (I  did  not  mean  to  interrupt  you.) 

"  No  not  you  H.  .  Moses.  .    Ouk  esti  thanatos.    Moses. 

"  (That's  first  rate.    Is  this  Mr.  Moses  translating?) 

"  Ouk  esti  thanatos.  There's  no  death.  Repeat  it  to 
me  in  Greek,  Hodgson,  for  him. 

*'  [Hodgson  repeats,  says  it  is  correct,  and  suggests  get- 
ting the  rest  of  the  passage  translated.] 

'  *  Come  H.    Come  here  a  moment.    Hurry  up  H. 

*'  [Hodgson  repeats  the  rest  of  the  passage.] 

'  *  Again . .  Good  oh  good  may  God  preserve  you  always 
H.,  and  keep  you  alive  on  earth  until  you  have  accom- 
plished a  thorough  work.  I'll  help  you  in  every  way 
possible. 

"  (Shall  I  repeat  the  Greek  again?) 

*'  Yes,  something  new.  .   Yes  he's  listening.  .   too  fast 

86 


TEST    MESSAGES 

H .  .  wait .  .  ready  he  has  it  very  nearly .  .  not  the  last  H . . 
no  before  . . .  yes  . .  not  quite  . .  got  it. 

**  [R.  H.  had  been  repeating  the  first  five  words  only 
several  times.] 

"  I'll  go  now  and  translate  it  and  return  soon." 

And  that  was  the  last  heard  of  it. 

In  these  trials  note  that  there  was  no  success  at  all  for 
three  sittings,  and  four  days  elapsed  between  the  third  and 
the  fourth.  This  could  be  readily  understood  if  Mrs.  Piper 
could  be  supposed  to  be  fraudulent — which,  of  course,  is 
not  the  case — for  being  ignorant  of  Greek  she  could  not 
look  up  the  words  in  a  dictionary  until  she  had  learned 
the  forms  of  the  Greek  letters,  which  would  take  some  time, 
and  even  when  she  was  able  to  remember  some,  or  happened 
across  some  one  with  some  knowledge  of  Greek,  she  got  only 
three — ouk  esti  thanatos. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the  Newbold  sittings  is 
that  Imperator  first  makes  his  appearance  here,  and  we 
get  a  little  light  on  the  manner  of  development  of  a  control. 
At  the  sitting  of  June  19,  1895,  the  Pelham  control  was 
talking  to  Newbold  about  the  future  life,  and  Newbold 
asked  if  he  knew  of  Stainton  Moses. 

' '  No,  not  very  much.    Why  ? 

**  (Did  you  ever  know  of  him  or  know  what  he  did?) 

"  I  only  have  an  idea  from  having  met  him  here. 

"  (Can  you  tell  me  what  he  said?) 

"  No,  only  that  he  was  W.  Stainton  Moses.  I  found 
him  for  E  and  Hodgson. 

"  (Did  you  tell  Hodgson  this?) 

"  I  do  not  think  so. 

"  (Did  he  say  anything  about  his  mediumship?) 

**No. 

"  (His  writings  claimed  that  the  soul  carried  with  it  all 
its  passions  and  appetites,  and  was  very  slowly  purified  of 
them.) 

*'  It  is  all  untrue. 

87 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

"  (And  that  the  souls  of  the  bad  hover  over  the  earth, 
goading  sinners  on  to  their  own  destruction.)  " 

So  far  all  the  information  has  been  given  by  Newbold. 
The  next  day  he  asked  for  Moses,  but  he  did  not  appear 
then.  On  the  next  day  he  asked  again,  but  Pelham  said 
he  could  not  find  him  and  that  the  doctor,  too,  was  after 
him.  In  these  days  Newbold  let  fall  that  Moses  had  been 
dead  three  years.  On  the  next  day  Phinuit  described  a 
spirit  corresponding  to  Newbold 's  idea  of  Moses,  and 
Moses  himself  appeared  presently,  Phinuit  acting  as  inter- 
mediary. After  some  introductory  instructions  by  Phinuit, 
Newbold  said  : 

"  (Tell  him  I  have  read  with  interest  his  book,  Spirit 
Teachings,  but  find  in  it  statements  apparently  incon- 
sistent with  what  you  say,  and  I  would  like  to  know  his 
explanation  of  the  fact.) 

**  [Moses:]  Believe  you  in  me  and  my  teachings?  " 

Newbold  speaks  again  about  the  inconsistencies,  and 
Moses  finally  asks  what  they  are,  and  on  being  told  what 
his  own  book  says,  says  that  he  was  mistaken  and  has 
learned  differently  since  death.  He  had  committed  him- 
self to  the  wrong  view  in  the  first  appearance.  He  goes 
on  to  make  other  corrections  in  his  book. 

Newbold  then  says  that  the  names  of  his  guides  have 
never  been  made  public,  and  if  he  would  give  him  their 
names  it  would  be  an  excellent  test  of  his  identity.  He 
gives  him  a  new  pencil,  and  the  hand  twists  and  turns  it 
for  some  minutes  as  if  in  doubt.    Finally  Newbold  asks : 

"  (Who  was  Rector?) 

"  Dr.  (name  given  here.)  " 

After  thanks  and  other  conversation  Newbold  asks  who 
Imperator  was,  and  another  name  was  written.  Then,  after 
desultory  talk  about  his  book  and  the  spirit  world,  Moses 
said  he  thought  himself  fortunate  to  have  been  brought 
here  by  Speer.  Newbold  asks,  "  Charlton  C.  Speer?  "  and 
with  great  excitement  Moses  recognises  his  old  friend  and 


TEST    MESSAGES 

co-worker.  He  thought  that  he  remembered  Myers,  but  did 
not  recall  Hodgson  at  first. 

Two  days  later,  when  Hodgson  and  Newbold  were  pres- 
ent, Mrs.  Piper  went  into  the  trance  easily  instead  of  with 
great  difficulty  as  usual,  and  it  was  evident  that  a  new 
control  had  come,  who  declared  himself  to  be  Moses. 

Moses  at  this  time  gave  the  name  of  Wallace  as  a  friend, 
and  when  Hodgson  asked  if  it  was  Alfred  R.  Wallace,  he 
assented. 

Hodgson  asked  him  to  tell  who  Imperator  was,  as  a  test, 
since  no  one  living  knew  except  Myers.  Moses  talked 
around  it  and  tried  to  evade  the  test,  but  finally  wrote  a 
name  which,  as  already  stated,  was  incorrect. 

We  have,  finally,  to  consider  the  few  sittings  with  Mrs. 
Piper  published  since  Dr.  Hodgson's  death.  These  are  re- 
ported by  Hyslop  and  James,  and  are  communications  pur- 
porting to  come  from  Dr.  Hodgson.  Hyslop  says  that  if 
it  is  Dr.  Hodgson  who  is  communicating,  he  has  an  almost 
impossible  task  before  him  in  proving  his  identity  through 
Mrs.  Piper.  He  worked  with  Mrs.  Piper  for  eighteen 
years,  and  no  one  can  say  how  much  she  and  her  controls 
have  learned  about  him  in  that  time.  Hyslop  adds,  "  I 
should  admit  frankly  that  if  I  were  dealing  with  ordinary 
professional  mediums  the  facts  which  I  expect  to  narrate 
would  have  no  evidential  or  scientific  value,"  because  they 
might  be  referred  to  knowledge  possessed  by  the  medium 
in  her  normal  state.  But  Hyslop  is  perfectly  convinced 
that  the  Piper  controls  do  not  know  w^hat  Mrs,  Piper  knows, 
as  well  as  vice  versa. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  let  us  further  note  that  the  con- 
trol calling  itself  Hodgson  says  that  it  has  great  difficulty 
in  speaking  through  any  medium  save  Mrs.  Piper. 

Here  is  one  of  the  incidents  which  Hyslop  quotes:  Dr. 

Hodgson  and  Hyslop  had  experimented  with  a  certain  girl 

medium,  and  later  Hodgson  had  mentioned  the  experiment 

to  Mrs.  Piper's  controls.     After  Hodgson's  death  a  friend 

9  89 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper  asked  him  if  he  would  not  com- 
municate through  some  other  medium,  and  he  replied, ' '  No, 
I  will  not,  except  through  the  young  light.  She  is  all 
right, ' '  and  later  on  said  that  Hyslop  would  understand  to 
whom  he  referred.  About  this  same  time  this  young 
"  light  "  in  a  sitting  with  her  parents  said  that  her  control 
' '  had  seen  Dr.  Hodgson, ' '  of  whose  death  she  did  not  then 
know.  Hyslop  says  of  this  incident:  "  At  least  Mrs. 
Piper's  subliminal  can  be  supposed  to  have  been  aware  of 
the  facts  sufficiently  to  deprive  the  incident  of  the  evi- 
dential value  which  we  would  like  it  to  have.  But  the  most 
striking  incident  is  the  last  one  quoted."  But  what  a 
forced  interpretation  is  put  on  this.  The  control  of  the 
young  "  light  "  did  not  say  that  he  had  seen  Hodgson  in 
the  spirit  world,  but  only  that  he  had  seen  him,  and 
throughout  Mrs.  Piper 's  sittings  the  controls  are  always  see- 
ing people  who  are  living,  doing  this,  that,  and  the  other 
thing.  As  Hyslop  gives  the  incident,  there  is  nothing  at 
all  that  makes  it  necessary  to  assume  that  the  medium  or 
her  control  was  thinking  of  Hodgson  as  dead. 

Another  incident  to  which  Hyslop  attaches  "  great  im- 
portance ' '  is  this :  In  a  seance  Hodgson  suddenly  breaks 
out,  "  Remember  that  I  told  Myers  we  would  talk  nigger 
talk."  Hyslop  dissented  to  this,  and  Hodgson  corrected 
it,  saying,  "  Ah,  yes,  James.  I  remember  it  was  Will 
James."  Professor  James  did  not  remember  any  such  re- 
mark, either  then  or  later  on,  until  in  a  general  conversa- 
tion on  Spiritism  with  a  guest  he  remarked  that  he  had 
several  times  told  Dr.  Hodgson  that  "if  he  would  only 
use  a  little  tact  (with  the  controls)  he  could  convert  their 
deifie  verbiage  into  nigger  minstrel  talk." 

One  other  incident  will  show  how  definite  Hodgson  is 
in  his  remarks  about  himself.  In  the  course  of  a  seance 
Hodgson  began : 

"  I  shall  never  forget  our  experiments  with  a  so-called 
light  when  you  took  a  bottle  of  red  liquid. 

90 


TEST    MESSAGES 

"  (Very  good.  You  know  what  a  noise  that  man  has 
made.) 

"  I  do.    I  know  all  about  it. 

"  (I  have  had  some  controversy  with  a  friend  of 
his.) 

"  Recently? 

*'  (Yes,  recently.  Now,  can  you  answer  a  question? 
Tell  me  who  it  was  or  all  you  can  recall  about  it.) 

"  Yes,  which?  I  remember  our  meeting  there.  I  can 
remember  the  liquid  experiment,  which  was  capital.  I  also 
recall  an  experiment  when  you  tied  the  handkerchief. 

"  (I  do  not  recall  it  at  this  moment.) 

**  What's  the  matter  with  you? 

*'  (I  have  tied  handkerchiefs  so  often.) 

*'  Remember  the  voice  experiment? 

* '  ( Yes,  I  remember  that  well.  That  was  when  the  liquid 
was  used.) 

"  I  am  referring  to  it  now.  I  know  it  perfectly  well, 
but  no  one  else  does. 

*'  (Yes,  that's  right.) 

"  I  remember  how  she  tried  to  fool  us. 

*'  (Yes,  it  was  my  first  trial  at  that.)  " 

Hyslop  remarks  that  the  liquid  was  not  red  but  purple, 
and  that  no  handkerchief  was  used,  but  Dr.  Hodgson 
talked  about  handkerchiefs  on  the  way  home,  ' '  and  as  any 
allusion  to  a  handkerchief  in  this  connection  is  pertinent, 
one  must  im.agine  that  the  incident  which  I  have  mentioned 
was  actually  intended. "  !  ! 

This  is  typical  of  the  Hyslop  conversations  with  Hodg- 
son, and  the  reader  can  judge  from  it  how  far  Hodgson 
has  thereby  proven  his  personal  identity.  Even  if  the  me- 
dium had  not  knov^Ti  Hodgson  personally,  but  had  only 
known  about  him,  little  is  said  that  she  might  not  have 
said  from  her  own  knowledge. 

In  Proceedmgs,  vol.  xx.  Professor  James  contributes 
121  pages  to  a  study  of  the  Piper  sittings  at  which  Hodg- 

91 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

son 's  spirit  purports  to  be  present,  but  we  will  not  consider 
these  in  further  detail,  since  he  himself  says  very  frankly 
that  the  possibilities  of  leakage  can  never  be  entirely  elim- 
inated, so  that  there  could  not  well  be  a  more  difficult  task 
set  for  any  one  to  prove  his  identity  than  to  Hodgson,  if 
he  really  is  speaking.  The  general  public  will  always  be- 
lieve it  possible  that  either  ]\lrs.  Piper  or  the  secondary  per- 
sonality obtained  the  information  given  from  the  living 
Hodgson  or  some  of  his  friends;  and  will  be  strengthened 
in  its  position,  I  might  add,  by  the  fact  that  at  Mrs.  Piper 's 
last  visit  to  England,  in  1906,  when  friends  of  Hodgson 
unknown  to  Mrs.  Piper  were  given  sittings,  the  Hodg-son 
control  did  not  recognise  them.  In  proportion,  that  is,  as 
the  conditions  eliminated  the  possibilities  of  leakage,  the 
supposed  Hodgson  control  failed  to  make  good.  Neverthe- 
less, Professor  James  says  that  sometimes  the  control  makes 
the  strong  impression  upon  him  of  being  Hodgson,  and 
that  some  of  the  messages  are  such  as  it  would  be  very 
improbable  for  either  the  waking  or  entranced  Mrs.  Piper 
to  know.  He  says,  "  I  myself  feel  as  if  an  external  will 
to  communicate  were  probably  there. . . .  But  if  asked 
whether  the  will  to  communicate  be  Hodgson's  or  be  some 
mere  spirit  counterfeit  of  Hodgson,  I  remain  uncertain  and 
await  more  facts,  facts  which  may  not  point  clearly  to  a 
conclusion  for  fifty  or  a  hundred  years."  And  in  this 
' '  almost  persuaded  ' '  state  we  are  forced  to  leave  Professor 
James. 

To  sum  up  the  published  sittings  then,  we  have  the 
following  results :  Approximately  110  facts  in  twenty  years 
have  been  given,  which  the  sitter  did  not  know  and  which 
were  true.  But  many  of  these  facts,  as  we  have  seen,  are 
easily  explicable  as  inferences  or  guesses,  or  are  so  vague 
as  to  have  little  or  no  value,  while  the  few  striking  coinci- 
dences are  so  few  that  it  does  not  seem  to  be  stretching  tol- 
erance if  we  frankly  leave  them  unexplained,  or  refer  them 
to  incidents  or  references  in  the  sittings  which  were  not 

92 


TEST    MESSAGES 

considered  important  enough  to  record.  The  so-called 
translation  of  unknown  tongues,  of  which  the  public  press 
has  given  such  exaggerated  reports,  turns  out  to  be  a  spe- 
cialised form  of  fishing,  as  we  shall  see  in  even  more  detail 
a  little  later  in  translating  the  famous  Latin  message. 


CHAPTER   VI 

OPINIONS    OF    SITTERS 

The  reduction  of  the  Piper  test  messages  to  so  few  and 
so  unimportant,  seems,  however,  too  easy  of  accomplishment 
to  be  reliable,  in  the  face  of  all  the  confidence  that  they 
have  inspired  in  well-known  people,  who  have  been  con- 
verted to  a  belief  in  spirit  communication  through  them. 
The  question  that  inevitably  arises  is  why  these  notable 
people  were  convinced  by  such  banalities,  easy  guesses,  fish- 
ing, and  rubbish  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question  completely  we  ought  to 
make  a  study  on  the  psychology  of  IMrs.  Piper's  sitters,  akin 
to  Miss  Johnson 's  in  studying  Home 's  manifestations.  But 
this  is  obviously  impossible  at  present,  and  so  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  an  array  of  opinions  from  the  most 
notable  of  them. 

First  as  to  the  favourable  opinions : 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  was  convinced  during  Mrs.  Piper's 
first  visit  to  England  that  he  obtained  spirit  communica- 
tions, and  F.  W.  H.  Myers  was  also  convinced.  Dr.  Hodg- 
son was,  of  course,  a  believer,  and  Dr.  Hyslop  was  con- 
vinced by  his  sittings.  These  are  far  and  away  the  best- 
known  persons  who  have  committed  themselves  unreserv- 
edly to  belief  in  IMrs.  Piper,  and  have,  in  a  sense,  staked 
their  scientific  reputations  on  the  belief  that  she  does  bring 
into  connection  this  world  and  the  next. 

In  addition  to  them  there  are  many  other  believers, 
such  as  Mrs.  J.  T.  Clarke,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  Blair  Thaw, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard  (the  friends  of  George  Pelham),  Mr. 
J.  Rogers  Rich,  and  various  people  who  are  indicated  only 

94 


OPINIONS    OF    SITTERS 

by  letters,  one  of  whom  had  forty-five  sittings.  Some  of 
these  sitters  come  to  Mrs.  Piper  regularly  for  advice  and 
consolation,  and  have  done  so  for  years. 

The  opinions  of  some  sitters  are  not  given,  and  in  a 
number  of  cases  their  judgment  seems  to  be  in  suspense. 
Miss  Alice  Johnson,  who  has  for  many  years  been  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Society,  is  one  of  these,  though  one  is  led  to  in- 
fer— perhaps  incorrectly — ^that  she  is  not  greatly  impressed 
by  Mrs.  Piper,  though  probably  she  is  a  Spiritist.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Sidgwick,  after  being  present  at  nine  sittings  for  them- 
selves and  five  for  others,  stated  their  conclusions  thus: 
"  While  our  own  experience,  taken  by  itself,  would  not  es- 
tablish Dr.  Phinuit's  claim  to  supernormally  acquired 
knowledge,  it  seems  to  us  to  support  to  some  extent  that 
claim,  which  from  the  reports  of  others  we  believe  to  be 
justified."  I  am  also  in  doubt  as  to  the  impression  left 
upon  Mrs.  Sidgwick  by  her  work  with  Myers's  spirit  in  the 
cross-reference  tests.  One  would  infer  from  her  attitude 
during  the  sitting  that  she  doubted  Myers's  claims,  but 
other  remarks  imply  belief  in  spirit  communication.  I  have 
not  found  any  definite  statement  of  Mrs.  Verrall  's  attitude, 
but  conclude  that  she  believes  in  Mrs.  Piper  from  her  atti- 
tude toward  her  own  automatic  writing  and  the  cross-refer- 
ence tests. 

Miss  Goodrich  Freer  at  first  was  favourably  impressed, 
but  later  altered  her  opinion. 

Then,  too,  we  have  those  sitters  of  intermediate  opinions. 
Prof.  J.  E.  Carpenter,  of  Oxford,  for  instance,  writes, 
after  one  sitting :  "  I  saw  enough  to  convince  me  that  Mrs. 
Piper  possesses  some  very  extraordinary  powers,  but  I  have 
no  theory  at  all  as  to  their  nature  or  mode  of  exercise." 

Charles  Eliot  Norton,  after  one  sitting,  believed  that 
there  was  some  imperfect  thought-transference,  and  no  evi- 
dence of  acquaintance  with  facts  known  only  to  him,  but 
nevertheless  enough  of  interest  to  make  him  sorry  he  could 
not  get  more. 

95 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Minot  J.  Savage,  after  various  sittings,  wrote,  *'  Nearly- 
all  (the  things  told  him)  are  inexplicable  on  any  theory 
that  does  not  go  at  least  as  far  as  telepathy,"  and  also  be- 
lieved in  spirit  communication. 

Professor  James,  though  he  has  said  that  his  experi- 
ences with  Mrs.  Piper  have  overturned  the  old  world  of 
science  for  him,  is  not  yet  willing  to  go  on  record  as  be- 
lieving in  communications  from  the  dead,  but  (in  the 
American  Magazine  for  September,  1909)  offers  an  in- 
genious hypothesis  of  half-developed,  inchoate  spirit  per- 
sonalities struggling  for  expression  that  recalls  the  most 
flourishing  days  of  oriental  and  mediaeval  beliefs  in  dee- 
mons,  genii,  etc. 

Dr.  Walter  Leaf  also  tends  in  this  direction.  At  first 
he  inclined  to  think  Phinuit  a  mere  secondary  personality, 
and  describes  some  of  his  favourite  tricks  and  evasions,  but 
in  1903  he  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  evidence  in  the 
Piper  case  proved  that '  *  memories  of  the  dead  survive  and 
are  under  special  conditions  accessible  to  us  "  through  the 
secondary  personalities  of  Mrs.  Piper,  but  he  is  not  sure 
that  these  memories  are  coherent  enough  to  themselves  de- 
serve the  name  of  personalities. 

Even  Mr.  Carrington,  who  is  now  a  believer  in  the 
grossest  physical  phenomena,  says  {Proceedings  of  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xvii,  p.  337)  :  "  The 
whole  case  is  one  contic"  .  s  series  of  glorious  uncertain- 
ties; of  doubts,  suspicions,  semi-convictions,  more  doubts 
and  again  uncertainties,  leaving  us  dissatisfied  with  our- 
selves and  wondering  whether,  after  all,  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  Spiritism  or  no. ' '  His  predominant  opinion  at  this 
time  was  that  the  controls  were  really  secondary  personal- 
ities, but  ere  now  he  has  been  convinced  of  their  genuine- 
ness as  spirits. 

Of  especial  interest  is  the  opinion  of  Professor  Newbold, 
who  was  present  at  twenty-six  sittings,  and  for  whom 
Hodgson  held  seven  others.    He  says :  *  *  With  regard  to  the 

96 


OPINIONS    OF    SITTERS 

origin  of  the  information  given  I  have  no  theory  to  offer, 
I  can  frame  none  to  which  I  cannot  myself  allege  un- 
answerable objections."  He  believes  that  Mrs.  Piper  in  the 
normal  state  is  honest,  but  thinks  that  the  controls  obtain 
much  information  from  the  sitter,  and  also  emphasises  the 
manifold  errors  which  may  creep  in  because  the  notes  are 
necessarily  so  incomplete  and  have  to  be  in  part  recon- 
structed from  memory. 

Prof.  N,  S.  Shaler,  after  one  sitting,  felt  confident  that 
the  statements  made  to  his  wife  were  such  as  to  "  entirely 
exclude  the  hypothesis  that  they  were  the  results  of  con- 
jectures directed  by  the  answers  made  by  my  wife.  I  took 
no  part  in  the  questioning,  but  observed  very  closely  all 
that  was  done.  I  have  no  firm  mind  about  the  matter.  I 
am  curiously  and  yet  absolutely  uninterested  in  it,  for  the 
reason  that  I  don't  see  how  I  can  exclude  the  hypothesis 
of  fraud,  and  until  that  can  be  excluded,  no  advance  can 
be  made." 

Coming  now  to  the  unfavourable  opinions,  there  have 
been,  of  course,  many  sitters  who  had  but  one  or  two  sit- 
tings, and  obtained  either  nothing  or  else  unintelligible 
nonsense  or  misstatements.  Thomas  Barkworth,  for  in- 
stance, was  convinced  that  Mrs.  Piper's  success  with  him 
was  due  to  her  hold  of  his  hand,  and  was  surprised  that 
she  did  not  do  better.  G.  H.  Darwin  was  wholly  uncon- 
vinced of  any  supernatural  powers,  and  Prof.  A.  Macal- 
ister  thought  her  a  very  poor  impostor.  Dr.  S.  Weir 
Mitchell  attended  one  sitting  with  Professor  James,  and 
said  that  if  he  had  not  heard  so  much  about  it  from  Dr. 
James  he  would  have  thought  it  all  a  fraud  and  a  very 
stupid  one,  too.  Prof.  J,  Mark  Baldwin,  after  one  sitting, 
was  left  much  as  before,  in  a  condition  of  "  willing  ap- 
proach to  any  evidence  on  either  side,"  but  disappointed 
that  he  got  nothing  more  positive.  Prof.  J.  Trowbridge, 
after  one  sitting,  thought  her  in  an  abnormal  condition, 
and  ' '  was  struck  by  a  sort  of  insane  cunning  in  the  grop- 

97 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ing  of  the  woman  after  something  intangible."  Professor 
Bowditeh  believed  that  Mrs,  Piper  had  worked  up  her  in- 
formation and  applied  it  to  him  by  mistake  instead  of  to 
his  uncle. 

Mrs.  Howard  Okie  wrote  after  two  sittings :  ' '  My  first 
sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper  was  not  at  all  satisfactory  to  me. 
There  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  great  deal  of  hedging  and 
guessing.  As  we  left  the  house  we  met  friends,  two  of 
whom  had  known  me  since  I  was  a  young  girl.  Owing  to 
this  occurrence  I  could  not  help  feeling  a  bit  suspicious  on 
my  next  visit  when  the  medium  was  able  to  give  the  full 
names  of  many  of  my  relatives  with  perfect  accuracy  and 
confidence ;  but  nothing  was  given  to  me  which  those  friends 
did  not  know." 

Prof.  J.  M.  Pierce,  after  two  sittings,  wrote:  "I  re- 
ceived none  that  tends  to  strengthen  the  theory  of  a  com- 
munication from  the  departed."  "  Phinuit  seems  to  me  to 
be  constantly  groping  after  indications  from  me  to  correct 
and  direct  his  intelligence,  and  in  some  cases  he  seemed  to 
me  to  be  so  directed.  Whatever  the  explanation  of  the 
phenomena,  I  believe  this  process  to  go  on — a  struggle  for 
knowledge  to  whose  issue  the  sitter  contributes."  "  I  am 
surprised  to  see  how  little  is  true.  Nearly  every  approach 
to  truth  is  at  once  vitiated  by  erroneous  additions  or  devel- 
opments. ' ' 

Professor  Richet  believes  that  all  may  be  explained  as 
a  case  of  secondary  personality,  as  does  Andrew  Lang,  and 
Flournoy  says  that  outsiders  can  only  wait  patiently  until 
the  variations  of  opinion  within  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  are  settled. 

Count  Petrovo-Solovovo  (himself  a  prominent  Spiritist), 
in  his  appendix  to  a  Russian  translation  of  Podmore's 
**  Modern  Spiritualism,"  concludes  on  the  Piper  case  that 
some  of  the  data  "  must  be  referred  to  a  supernormal 
power,  but  that  these  are  drowned  in  an  ocean  of  insig- 
nificant and  often  silly  rubbish;  and  that  the  importance 

98 


OPINIONS    OF    SITTERS 

of  her  trance  utterances  and  writings  is  enormously  exag- 
gerated by  her  ardent  followers."  He  considers  Hyslop's 
report  of  little  value  because  his  colossal  industry  is 
coupled  with  an  equally  colossal  simplicity  and  unconscious 
preconception.  Some  of  the  devices,  he  says,  by  which 
Hyslop  interprets  communications  so  as  to  make  them 
veridical,  are  bej'ond  criticism.  "  One  can  only  hold  up 
one's  hands  in  amazement." 

And,  finally,  we  have  Podmore,  who  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  from  its  beginning, 
and  who  has  been  consistently  sceptical  with  regard  to 
spiritualistic  phenomena  of  all  kinds.  He  inclines  to  in- 
terpret some  of  the  Piper  phenomena  as  due  to  telepathy 
— which  he  accepts — but  is  very  sure  that  there  is  nothing 
to  demonstrate  spirit  communication.  When  Hyslop  pub- 
lished his  enormous  report,  Podmore  subjected  it  to  a  scath- 
ing criticism,  and  there  have  been  various  interchanges  of 
civilities  between  the  two,  but  throughout  Podmore  has  re- 
mained unconvinced. 

Most  recent  of  all  in  his  investigations  is  Dr.  G.  Stanley 
Hall,  who  was  present  at  six  sittings,  and  was  convinced 
that  Mrs.  Piper  is  simply  a  case  of  secondary  personality. 
His  sittings  will  be  discussed  in  detail  later. 

It  would  seem  from  the  above  reports  that  of  people 
with  scientific  training,  more  are  unconvinced  by  Mrs. 
Piper's  claims  or  are  hostile  to  them  than  are  believers. 
Contrary  to  the  general  opinion,  the  sittings  are  not  so 
striking  and  convincing  that  any  fair-minded  person  who 
will  attend  two  or  three  must  become  a  Spiritist.  On  the 
contrary,  all  the  sittings,  from  first  to  last,  are  for  the 
most  part  unimportant,  unevidential,  trifling,  stupid,  or 
nonsensical,  and  the  few  gems  which  believers  think  they 
have  found  have  been  obtained  only  after  the  expenditure 
of  a  tremendous  amount  of  time,  and  have  been  made  valu- 
able only  after  laborious  polishing  and  cutting. 

Indeed,  as  one  studies  the  sittings  in  the  light  of  what 

99 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

one  knows  of  the  sitters'  personalities,  one  can  hardly  es- 
cape forming  the  theory — admittedly  hypothetical  and  un- 
proven — that  those  who  become  convinced  of  spirit  com- 
munication are  to  some  degree  of  the  type  described  by 
Miss  Johnson  in  her  "  Psychology  of  the  Sitter."  Have 
not  some  of  them  had  hallucinations  which  they  perhaps 
would  call  veridical  apparitions?  Were  not  some  suffering 
from  recent  bereavements  when  they  became  convinced? 
Were  not  some  perhaps  nervously  exhausted  or  on  the 
verge  of  nervous  breakdown?  Furthermore,  in  the  case  of 
Hyslop  at  least,  the  credulity  which  has  become  increas- 
ingly manifest  in  his  writings  during  the  last  few  years 
makes  it  impossible  to  consider  his  judgment  valuable,  and 
makes  one  sympathise  thoroughly  with  Count  Solovovo's 
estimate  of  his  work.  Not  only  this,  but  the  heat  and  in- 
tolerance with  which  Hj'^slop  attacks  those  who  differ  from 
him  make  one  feel  that  now  at  least,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  case  at  the  start,  he  holds  a  brief  and  has  become 
unable  to  see  the  other  side. 

At  the  same  time,  his  copious  publications  in  popular 
form,  as  well  as  the  various  popular  articles  from  other 
Spiritists,  have  led  to  an  overbalance  of  the  evidence  in 
the  public  mind.  The  investigators  who  were  unfavourably 
impressed  by  Mrs.  Piper  cannot  make  so  sensational  an 
article,  and  hence  are  not  heard  from  as  frequently  as  the 
others.  We  should  restore  the  balance,  and  realise  that,  all 
in  all,  many  more  psychologists  and  scientists  have  not 
been  convinced  by  Mrs.  Piper  than  have  been,  and  that 
some  of  these  have  been  familiar  with  her  sittings  from 
the  beginning.  The  weight  of  authority — the  mere  ipse 
dixit  argument — is  not  on  her  side. 


CHAPTER   VII 

CROSS   CORRESPONDENCES:    MRS.   HOLLAND  AND   MRS. 
VERRALL 

In  the  Journal  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
for  December,  1908,  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  explains  the  method 
of  cross  references:  "  There  are  three  automatic  writers, 
let  us  say:  Mrs.  Piper  in  America,  Mrs.  Verrall  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  Mrs.  Holland  in  India.  All  these  receive  au- 
tomatic writings  through  their  hands  two  or  three  times  a 
month.  These  writings  are  regularly  sent  in  to  Mr.  Pid- 
dington  or  to  Miss  Alice  Johnson  in  London,  and  they  are 
compared  from  time  to  time  to  see  if  there  is  any  connec- 
tion between  the  various  messages  received  from  the  three 
writers  on  any  given  day  or  week.  If  the  three  writers 
wrote  the  same  identical  message,  it  would  not  be  the  kind 
of  evidence  we  want,  for  it  would  clearly  suggest  telepathy 
between  them.  The  message  must  not  be  intelligible  to 
each  separately,  but  must  become  luminous  when  put 
together.  To  take  an  imaginary  example,  suppose  Mrs. 
Piper  got  the  words  ' '  British  Association  ' '  written  through 
her  hand;  suppose  that  at  the  same  time  Mrs,  Verrall 
got  the  word  ' '  Dublin, ' '  and  suppose  also  Mrs.  Holland  got 
something  about  a  meeting  at  the  same  time,  there  would 
obviously  be  some  correspondence  between  these  three 
things.  But  since  telepathy  has  become  an  established 
fact,  such  correspondence  is  not  sufficient  to  establish  the 
agency  of  an  independent  intelligence  apart  from  the  au- 
tomatic writers.  .  .  .  But  now  take  a  further  step :  sup- 
pose that  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Piper  the  words  "  Francis 
Darwin  "  were  written.  That  name  does  not  suggest 
* '  Dublin, ' '  and  it  does  not  suggest  a  meeting.    Suppose  also 

101 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

that  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  writing  the  words  "  Parliament  of 
Science,"  or  some  still  more  roundabout  phrase,  occurred. 
That  would  not  suggest  the  name  "  Darwin,"  except  to 
those  in  the  inner  circles  of  the  British  Association.  Lastly, 
suppose  that  Mrs.  Holland  automatically  drew  a  figure  of  a 
harp  or  a  shamrock.  In  that  case  no  suggestion  of  either 
our  President,  Mr.  Darwin,  or  of  the  British  Association 
or  of  Dublin  would  naturally  be  aroused.  And  simple 
telepathy  being  thus  eliminated,  by  similar  automatic  pre- 
cautions intensified  on  these  lines,  we  should  be  reduced 
to  the  only  alternatives — either  that  there  is  some  intelli- 
gence independent  of  the  three  writers  influencing  them 
at  the  same  time,  or  that  the  three  writers  have  arranged 
a  little  plot  among  themselves. 

*'  This  is  the  method  of  cross  correspondence.  It  was 
not  devised  altogether  by  experimenters  on  this  side.  It 
seems  to  have  been  partly  invented  or,  at  any  rate,  im- 
proved and  developed  by  some  members  of  ours  who  have 
crossed  the  boundary.  We  are  beginning  almost  to  speak 
about  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  on  the  other  side, 
which  is  quite  as  active  and  even  more  ingenious  than  that 
portion  which  is  still  on  earth." 

This  method  was  suggested  to  Miss  Johnson  by  a  study 
of  the  earlier  scripts  of  Mrs.  Verrall,  Holland,  and  Forbes. 
She  says,  "  The  characteristic  of  these  cases  is  that  we  do 
not  get  in  the  writing  of  one  automatist  anything  like  a 
verbal  reproduction  of  phrases  in  the  others:  we  do  not 
even  get  the  same  idea  expressed  in  different  ways,  as 
might  well  result  from  direct  telepathy  between  them. 
What  we  get  is  a  fragmentary  utterance  in  one  script, 
which  seems  to  have  no  particular  point  or  meaning,  and 
another  fragmentary  utterance  in  the  other,  of  an  equally 
pointless  character;  but  when  we  put  the  two  together  we 
see  that  they  supplement  each  other,  and  that  there  is  ap- 
parently one  coherent  idea  underlying  both  but  only  par- 
tially expressed  in  each."     Miss  Johnson  also  notes  that 

102 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

scattered  through  the  writings  are  phrases  like  this,  *  *  How 
could  I  make  it  any  clearer  without  giving  her  the  clew  ?  ' ' 
which  seem  to  imply  that  some  intelligence  is  making  up 
riddles  which  can  only  be  answered  by  putting  together  the 
different  writings.  Miss  Johnson  framed  her  theory  on 
the  basis  of  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  and  others,  but  not  on 
Mrs.  Piper's,  which  came  later.  We  will  first  consider, 
therefore,  ]\Iiss  Johnson's  report,  contained  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  tJie  Society  for  Psychical  Research  for  June, 
1908,  Part  LV,  a  bulky  report  of  225  pages  on  the  auto- 
matic writing  of  Mrs.  Holland. 

**  Mrs.  Holland  "  is  a  pseudonym  for  a  lady  living  in 
India,  who  has  been  interested  in  problems  of  Psychical 
Research  for  some  time.  In  1893  she  saw  a  reference  to 
automatic  writing  in  the  Review  of  Reviews,  and  tried 
it.  Her  hand  at  once  began  to  write  words,  but  nothing 
interesting  came,  and  the  questions  asked  were  not  an- 
swered. The  second  time  that  she  tried,  the  verses  were 
written,  and  since  then  most  of  the  writing  has  been  in 
verse,  usually  beginning  thus: 

Believe  in  what  thou  canst  not  see 
Until  the  vision  come  to  thee. 

I  shall  not  take  up  in  detail  the  contents  of  this  script. 
To  one  who  is  not  inclined  to  the  spiritistic  theory  the 
content  seems  for  the  most  part  uninteresting,  and  the  so- 
called  evidential  messages  are  either  vague  or  referable 
to  knowledge  once  in  the  medium's  possession,  with  a  small 
residuum  which  it  seems  quite  as  rational  to  refer  to  mere 
coincidence  as  to  spirits.  The  same  is  true  in  general  of 
the  cross  correspondences,  which  we  will  now  consider  in 
more  detail  both  as  given  in  this  report  and  especially  in 
Mr.  Piddington's  report  on  Mrs.  Piper. 

Miss  Johnson  distinguishes  from  each  other  (a)  com- 
munications in  which  one  automatist  refers  to  events  hap- 
pening to  the  other  or  to  some  feature  of  the  other's  sur- 

103 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Foundings;  (&)  communications  in  which  independent  ref- 
erences to  the  same  topic  occur  at  about  the  same  time  in 
the  script  of  both  automatists.  These  latter  alone  she  calls 
cross  correspondences. 

She  traces  briefly  the  history  of  such  communications. 
Myers  and  Hodgson  while  alive  both  made  attempts  to 
secure  such  messages,  but  do  not  seem  to  have  kept  records 
of  their  attempts.  There  are  some  references  to  them  in 
Myers's  letters  to  Mrs.  Thompson,  the  earliest  being  Oc- 
tober 24,  1898,  Mr.  Piddington  in  his  account  of  Mrs. 
Thompson  {Proceedings,  vol.  xviii)  notes  some  connections 
between  her  automatisms  and  those  of  other  mediums,  and 
while  he  thinks  some  of  them  explicable  as  due  merely  to 
similar  trains  of  ideas,  others  he  thinks  may  be  referable 
to  one  control  who  is  affecting  the  two  mediums. 

After  Mr.  Myers's  death  cross  correspondences  began 
to  increase  in  number,  first  and  especially  in  Mrs.  Verrall's 
script,  which  are  characterised  by  the  fact  that  we  get  in 
the  two  scripts  apparently  meaningless  utterances  which 
are  only  significant  when  combined.  This  sort  disposes  of 
the  appeal  to  telepathy,  Miss  Johnson  thinks.  Her  idea 
is  that  this  group  of  spirits  on  the  other  side  who  had  to 
meet  all  the  sceptical  objections  while  on  this  have,  since 
going  over,  evolved  this  method  in  order  to  meet  those 
objections,  and  are  working  at  it  systematically  with  this 
group  of  mediums.  "  It  was  not  the  automatists  who  de- 
tected it,  but  a  student  of  the  scripts ;  it  has  every  appear- 
ance of  being  an  element  imported  from  outside;  it  sug- 
gests an  independent  invention,  an  active  intelligence  con- 
stantly at  work  in  the  present,  not  a  mere  echo  or  remnant 
of  individualities  of  the  past." 

She  notes  that  evidence  of  connection  between  two 
scripts  would  be  better  proved  if  the  statements  were  iden- 
tical instead  of  merely  similar,  for  the  odds  against  chance 
would  thus  be  greatly  increased ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
the  controls  are  trying  to  forestall  an  appeal  to  telepathy, 

104 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

they  cannot  thus  give  identical  messages.  They  must  not 
allow  their  message  to  reach  even  the  subliminal  conscious- 
ness of  the  medium,  and  so  they  must  make  it  meaningless 
to  her.  This  means,  of  course,  that  the  correspondence  will 
be  detected  only  by  a  third  person  who  is  studying  the  two 
scripts  with  something  like  this  in  mind. 

But  only  consider  for  a  moment  the  possibilities  of 
error  which  are  thus  opened.  Some  person  who  believes 
that  a  certain  spirit  (usually  Myers  in  these  cases)  is  in- 
fluencing three  different  mediums,  and  who  knew  this 
spirit  while  he  was  alive  and  has  read  his  writings,  stud- 
ies all  the  automatic  writings  of  these  three  mediums  with 
the  avowed  object  of  discovering  cryptogrammatic  mean- 
ings. These  writings  consist  very  largely  of  disconnected 
words,  vague  phrases,  ambiguous  terms  which  might  be 
taken  literally  or  figuratively,  etc.  Under  such, conditions, 
of  course,  fragments  can  be  patched  together  into  a  coher- 
ent whole,  and  the  whole  will  be  just  as  referable  to  an 
outside  intelligent  spirit  influencing  the  three  mediums  as 
the  Donnelly  cryptograms  are  referable  to  Shakespeare  as 
their  author.  Donnelly  showed  tremendous  ingenuity  in  in- 
venting a  method  which  would  display  through  the  Shake- 
speare folios  a  secret  cipher  declaring  that  Shakespeare  was 
Bacon,  but  nowadays  everyone  recognises  that  he  was  the 
dupe  of  his  own  mental  sinuosities  or  else  a  colossal  joker. 
Similarly,  Miss  Johnson  and  Mr.  Piddington,  especially  the 
latter,  have  totally  ignored  the  laws  of  association  at  work 
in  their  own  minds,  and  have  forgotten,  if  indeed  they  ever 
knew,  the  tremendous  influence  of  a  preconceived  theory  on 
one's  interpretations  of  facts.  They  are  seeing  ghosts  in 
the  dusk  because  they  expect  to  see  them,  while  a  somewhat 
closer  examination  would  show  only  a  white  gravestone 
marked:  " /w  memoriam,  F.  W.  H.  Myers.    Resurgam.^^ 

But  let  iLS  show  by  their  own  examples  what  this 
means,  in  the  cross  references  b(>tween  Mrs.  Verrall  and 
Mrs.  Ilolhind,  the  latter  in  India,  the  former  in  England. 
10  105 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

In  December  of  1903  and  January  of  1904  passages 
occur  in  Mrs.  Holland 's  script  which  seem  to  refer  to  Mrs. 
Verrall,  though  this  was  not  discovered  for  two  years,  be- 
cause Miss  Johnson  did  not  see  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  until 
then. 

In  March  of  1905  Miss  Johnson  arranged  with  the  two 
mediums  that  each  should  write  regularly  each  Wednes- 
day in  the  hope  of  getting  more  correspondences,  neither 
knowing  who  the  other  was,  until  the  following  October, 
when  they  met. 

In  February  of  1906  a  second  set  of  experiments  was 
begun,  running  over  several  months. 

The  references  to  Mrs.  Verrall  he  fore  Mrs.  Holland 
tried  any  experiments  with  her  are  as  follows,  as  sum- 
marised by  Miss  Johnson. 


1.  The  Sealed  Envelope  and  Text 


Mrs.  Verrall. 

December  2,  1903.     On  the 

17  of  next  month  ask  the 

question. 
Use  the  daylight  hours  for 

the  night  cometh  when  no 

man  may  work. 
January  4,  1904.     Write  on 

the  17. 


January  17. 2  on  the  seal  of 

the  letter. 
The    question    is    answered 

and  the  text  given. 


Mrs.  Holland. 


January  8.  The  anniver- 
sary that  is  only  nine  days 
away  now. 

January  17.  Attempt  to  get 
a  message  through. 

Sealed  envelope  not  to  be 
opened  yet. 

I  Cor.  xvi  13.  Take  the  mes- 
sage to  you  all. 


106 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

Explanatory  of  this,  it  should  be  said  that  in  October 
of  1903  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  had  told  her  to  ask  I\Irs.  Sidg- 
wick  for  a  test,  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick  had  asked :  ' '  What  was 
the  last  of  Dr.  Sidgwick 's  texts — the  one  that  belonged  to 
the  latter  part  of  his  life?  "  This  referred  to  his  taking 
some  text  for  the  key-note  of  his  life  at  different  times, 
and  for  the  latter  part  it  was,  "  Gather  up  the  fragments 
that  remain,  that  nothing  be  lost."  It  is  said  that  Mrs. 
Verrall  did  not  know  of  this  custom. 

Mr.  Myers  is  the  control  in  both  of  these  scripts,  and 
January  17th  was  the  anniversary  of  his  death,  a  fact 
known  to  both  mediums. 

This  would  sufficiently  account  for  the  references  in 
both  scripts  to  that  date,  and  otherwise  there  seems  no  need 
of  invoking  cross  references  to  explain  any  part  of  the 
messages.  Miss  Johnson  looks  upon  the  text,  "  Use  the 
daylight  hours,"  etc.,  as  a  paraphrase  of  the  correct  text, 
"  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  remain.  ..."  But  why 
should  we  not  refer  it  to  the  attempt  of  Mrs.  Verrall's  own 
consciousness  to  fish  up  the  text  which  was  wanted?  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  asked  for  the  text  Dr.  Sidgwick  used  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  life,  and  Mrs.  Verrall's  subliminal  would 
naturally  guess  that  he  would  choose  one  that  would  refer 
to  his  getting  old,  and  that  would  stimulate  him  to  re- 
newed efforts.  The  reference  on  January  17th,  saying  that 
the  question  is  answered  and  the  text  given,  Miss  Johnson 
thinks  refers  to  Mrs.  Holland's  script  of  that  date,  but  it 
might  just  as  well  refer  to  the  text  of  December  2d  in  Mrs. 
Verrall's  script  and  to  the  phrase  just  above,  "  2  on  the 
seal  of  the  letter." 

Similarly,  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script  of  January  17th, 
Miss  Johnson  thinks  that  the  phrase,  "  Attempt  to  get  a 
message  through, ' '  refers  to  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script,  although 
it  might  as  well  be  a  remark  on  Mrs.  Holland's  own,  since 
the  controls  constantly  use  this  phrase  in  such  a  way. 

"  Take  the  message  to  you  all  "  may  mean  simply  to 
107 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  other  Researchers,  since  the  control  knew  that  the  writ- 
ing at  this  time  was  being  sent  to  Miss  Johnson. 

The  reference  to  Corinthians  has  no  bearing  on  Dr. 
Sidgwick's  text,  being,  "  Watch  ye,  stand  fast  in  the  faith, 
quit  ye  like  men,  be  strong."  But  as  it  is  inscribed  in 
Greek  over  the  gateway  of  Selwyn  College,  and  must  be 
passed  in  going  from  Mr.  Myers's  to  Mrs.  Verrall's,  or  to 
Dr.  Sidgwick's,  Miss  Johnson  believes  that  it  has  signifi- 
cance, especially  as  it  appears  again  over  a  year  later  in 
connection  with  Mrs.  Verrall,  without  Mrs.  Holland  learn- 
ing of  the  connection  in  the  meantime. 

The  reference  in  both  scripts  to  the  sealed  envelope 
is  to  me  the  most  striking  coincidence,  but  even  this  is 
by  no  means  inexplicable,  since  Mrs.  Holland  certainly 
knew  or  could  have  surmised  that  Mr.  Myers  had  left  sealed 
envelopes,  this  being  not  infrequently  done  by  the  Re- 
searchers, and  the  anniversary  of  his  death  would  be  a 
time  when  they  would  most  naturally  be  remembered  and 
their  contents  speculated  upon.  There  is  nothing  to  indi- 
cate that  the  sealed  envelope  referred  to  is  the  one  left  by 
Dr.  Sidgwick,  as  Miss  Johnson  assumes.  At  the  same  time, 
Mrs,  Verrall's  script  had  for  some  time  been  referring  to 
Dr.  Sidgwick's  sealed  envelopes,  and  the  reference  to  them 
here  has  therefore  no  special  significance. 


2.  Co-operation  Between  Different  Sensitives  Recommended 
Mrs.  Verrall,  Mrs.  Holland. 


September    21,    1903.     One 
person  alone  does  so  little. 


October  12,  1903.  Easier 
when  some  one  else  helps. 

October  19.  Evidence  comes 
later  for  you  through 
others. 

108 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

Mrs.  Verrall.  Mrs.  Holland. 

November  7,  1903.  The 
agent  is  all  alone  and  that 
makes  it  hard. 

December  1.  One  does  so 
little  alone. 

December  5.  I  fear  you 
will  never  be  really  re- 
sponsive trying  alone. 


December  7.     Sit  regularly 
alone  or  with  others. 


January  5,  1904.  Words 
with  a  purpose,  a  mean- 
ing, not  for  you,  but  for 
others. 


Now  it  is  to  be  noted  that  it  was  in  the  summer  pre- 
ceding this  that  Mrs.  Holland  had  read  Myers's  "  Human 
Personality,"  in  which  the  cross-correspondence  method  is 
hinted  at,  and  that  it  was  during  that  fall  that  she  was  hav- 
ing her  first  correspondence  with  Miss  Johnson,  and  her  first 
contact  with  a  personality  at  all  sympathetic  with  hers  on 
these  subjects.  These  references  in  the  script  to  her  isola- 
tion are  only  the  natural  reflection  of  her  increased  recog- 
nition of  it  which  came  doubtless  from  this  correspondence, 
and  they  express  her  own  longing  to  come  into  closer  touch 
with  others  who  are  working  along  these  lines.  The  refer- 
ence to  words  with  a  meaning  for  others  but  not  for  her 
may  refer  to  cross  correspondences  or  simply  to  experiences 
that  she  had  already  had  in  receiving  messages  for  ac- 
quaintances. 

Mrs.  Verrall's  script  probably  does  refer  to  cross  cor- 
respondences, of  which  Mrs.  Verrall  had  already  obtained 
some,  but  there  is  no  reason  at  all  to  suppose  that  they 
refer  to  Mrs.  Holland,  especially  since  the  dates  do  not 

109 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

correspond  with  Mrs.  Holland's  by  weeks,  save  in  the  one 
case  of  December  1st,  5th,  and  7th. 

To  make  a  cross  correspondence  out  of  two  such  series 
is  one  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  lengths  to  which  such 
interpretations  can  go  without  any  real  basis. 


3.  Attitude  of  the  Controls 


Mrs.  Verrall. 


December  29.  Listen  to  the 
voice  of  one  crying  and 
proclaiming  in  desert 
places. 


February  2.  Slaves  in  pris- 
on, the  pure  have  done 
prodigies. 


Mrs.  Holland. 

November  26,  1903.  A  feel- 
ing of  terrible  impotence 
burdens  me.  I  cannot  get 
into  communication  with 
those  who  would  under- 
stand. 


January  5.  Words  said — 
shouted — sung  to  the  wind, 
may  perhaps  reach  yoii 
some  time. 

January  12.  Does  anything 
reach  you,  or  am  I  only 
wailing  as  the  wind  wails 
— ^wordless  and  unheeded. 

January  6.  The  missionary 
spirit  and  the  great  long- 
ing to  speak  to  the  souls 
in  prison. 


110 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

Surely  there  is  nothing  here  suflficiently  clear  to  mark  it 
as  an  intentional  cross  correspondence,  especially  when  we 
recall  that  Mrs.  Holland  had  read  Myers's  book,  and  there- 
fore knew  the  supposed  difficulties  spirits  had  in  communi- 
cating, while  Mrs,  Verrall  did  also. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  their  complaints  that  no  one 
understands  their  message,  which  Miss  Johnson  considers 
especially  apt  in  view  of  the  fact  that  this  group  of  cor- 
respondences was  not  discovered  for  two  years. 

4.  In  another  instance  Mrs,  Holland's  script  refers  to 
the  failure  of  the  Verrall-Myers  to  tell  correctly  the  con- 
tents of  the  sealed  envelope  left  by  Myers.  Miss  Johnson 
thought  that  probably  Mrs.  Holland  had  read  one  of  the 
newspaper  accounts  of  this,  but  as  Mrs.  Holland  is  sure  she 
did  not,  Miss  Johnson  takes  it  as  an  evidential  incident,  but 
in  other  places  she  as  well  as  other  Researchers  insist  that 
any  bit  of  knowledge  which  might  have  been  known  to  the 
medium  shall  not  be  considered  evidential,  and  why  should 
she  make  this  case  an  exception  ?  We  do  not  question  Mrs. 
Holland's  honesty,  but  we  do  question  her  memory,  because 
we  know  that  the  subconscious  retains  many  things  which 
come  out  in  just  these  ways. 

5.  On  March  1,  1905,  systematic  experiments  were  be- 
gun with  ]\Irs.  Verrall,  Mrs.  Holland  being  at  that  time  in 
Scotland,  but  not  knowing  that  Mrs.  Verrall  was  to  be  the 
other  party,  and  not  then  having  met  her.  On  this  date, 
in  Mrs.  Holland's  script,  first  the  script  says  that  jonquils 
are  in  a  blue  jar  and  growing  tulips  near  the  window. 
Then,  after  a  little,  the  text,  "  Watch  ye,"  etc.,  referred  to 
before  is  given ;  reference  to  Mrs.  Verrall — the  initial  only 
being  given,  and  a  description  of  a  lady,  of  which  we  are 
not  told  whether  it  is  correct  or  not  as  applied  to  Mrs. 
Verrall. 

Mrs.  Verrall 's  script  of  this  date  had  no  references  ap- 
plicable to  Mrs.  Holland. 

The  introduction  of  the  text  Miss  Johnson  thinks  the  most 
111 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

notable  thing,  because,  although  Mrs.  Holland  might  have 
guessed  that  ]\Irs.  Verrall  would  be  the  other  automatist,  she 
would  not  naturally  have  connected  this  text  with  her.  The 
Bible  reference  to  this  same  text  had  been  given  January  17, 
1904,  when  she  had  been  told  that  the  sealed  envelope  was 
not  to  be  opened  yet,  and  had  not  appeared  since.  How  is 
its  appearance  here  to  be  explained  unless  it  is  a  cross  ref- 
erence? asks  Miss  Johnson.  Why  not  answer  that  it  arises 
now  in  much  the  same  way  as  then?  The  adjuration  to 
stand  fast  in  the  faith  and  quit  ye  like  men  very  naturally 
comes  at  the  beginning  of  such  a  set  of  experiments,  and 
it  would  also  arise  when  told  not  to  open  the  envelope, 
but  to  have  faith  for  a  little  longer.  I  think  it  may 
certainly  be  assumed  that  Mrs.  Holland's  secondary  self 
had  guessed  that  Mrs.  Verrall  would  be  her  fellow-ex- 
perimenter. 

On  March  8th  there  were  no  cross  references. 

6.  March  15th,  in  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script,  music  notes  ap- 
peared with  the  statement,  **  She  will  send  you  something 
like  them — verse  I  think,"  and,  March  19th,  it  said  that  the 
lady  had  gone  to  church,  and  that  she  had  a  copy  of  Car- 
paccio's  Ursula  hanging  in  her  room. 

Mrs.  Holland  did  not  send  any  notes  or  verse  and  she 
had  no  such  picture,  but  Saturday,  the  day  before  this 
writing,  she  had  looked  at  this  picture  frequently  in  a 
portfolio  of  drawings. 

On  March  22d  Mrs.  Holland  did  have  some  music  notes 
in  her  writing,  but  not  the  same.  She  had  never  had  any 
notes  except  once,  over  a  year  before,  and  never  since. 
Mrs.  Verrall  had  never  had  any  before,  and  but  once  since, 
over  a  year  later,  when  they  were  evidently  reminiscences 
of  this  time. 

7.  March  24th,  Mrs.  Holland  had  an  impression  of  a 
woman,,  and  wrote  out  the  description  and  sent  it  to  Miss 
Johnson.  Mrs.  Verrall  does  not  think  the  description  of 
her  appearance  distinctive  enough  to  be  of  any  value,  and 

112 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

some  of  it  is  positively  wrong.  Miss  Johnson  thinks  that 
the  traits  mentioned  are  quite  characteristic.  Be  it  noted 
here  that  ]\Irs.  Holland  knew  that  Mrs.  Verrall  had  done 
crystal  gazing,  and  had  read  her  article  on  this  subject 
and  gained  from  it  that  impression  of  a  writer's  personal- 
ity that  all  of  us  get  from  even  the  most  colourless  scien- 
tific effusion. 

On  March  29th  there  were  no  cross  correspondences. 

8.  April  5th,  Mrs.  Verrall  gave  a  description  of  a  land- 
scape which  Mrs.  Holland  said  applied  to  her  surroundings 
at  that  time,  but  that  the  trees  mentioned  were  not  char- 
acteristic. 

During  the  six  following  weeks  Mrs.  Holland  was  trav- 
elling. Every  Wednesday  she  tried  to  convey  an  impres- 
sion to  her  coadjutor,  but  there  were  no  coincidences  at  all 
in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script.  Mrs.  Verrall  then  tried  to  do 
the  same  for  a  few  weeks,  but  these,  too,  were  entirely 
unsuccessful. 

Over  a  period  of  fifteen  or  more  weeks  then,  experi- 
menting once  a  week,  these  are  the  only  coincidences  that 
Miss  Johnson  can  find. 

They  are  very  few,  as  is  evident,  and  the  only  curious 
one  is,  it  seems  to  me,  that  of  the  notes.  But  here  I  should 
wonder  whether  there  chanced  to  be  some  notable  concerts 
going  on,  or  something  else  which  might  have  fixed  the 
attention  of  both  automatists  upon  music.  Further,  the 
coincidence  here  extends  over  a  period  of  a  week,  and  so 
is  not  close  at  best. 

On  February  28,  1906,  a  second  series  of  experiments 
was  begun  under  the  same  general  conditions  as  before, 
Mrs.  Holland  still  being  in  England. 

1.  On  this  date  her  script  refers  to  a  beautiful  purple 
crocus,  to  the  sparrows  eating  them,  the  need  of  pruning 
the  trees,  especially  the  pear  tree,  and  the  creepers.  IVIrs. 
Verrall  on  this  date  called  her  daughter's  attention  to  a 
crocus,  her  creepers  needed  pruning  but  not  her  pear  tree, 

113 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  jackdaws,  but  not  sparrows,  began  to  pull  up  the  cro- 
cuses at  about  this  time. 

2.  The  script  is  sorry  about  A.'s  sister.  But  A. 's  (Mr. 
Verrall's)  sister  was  having  no  trouble. 

3.  A  reference  to  Rhine  wine  was  also  not  apropos. 

4.  Henry  was  not  mistaken  (followed  by  a  drawing 
seeming  to  represent  hills). 

5.  No,  not  in  the  Electra.  M.  will  know  better.  (M. 
refers  to  Mrs.  Verrall.) 

In  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  of  this  date,  and  thrice  before 
during  February,  this  line  in  Greek  had  appeared:  "  Be 
sorrow  sorrow  spoken  but  let  the  good  prevail. ' '  This  is  a 
quotation  from  ^schylus's  Agamemnon.  Now,  thinks 
Mrs.  Verrall,  the  Electra  of  Sophocles  or  Euripides  is 
equivalent  to  the  Libation  Bearers,  the  second  play  of  the 
Trilogy  of  which  Agamemnon  is  the  first,  and  so  Mrs. 
Holland's  words,  "  No,  not  in  the  Electra,"  mean  "  the 
Greek  quoted  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  is  not  in  the  Electra, 
but  in  the  Trilogy  somewhere."  And  eureka!  we  have  a 
cross  correspondence  again ! 

Of  course  the  fact  that  at  this  time  a  translation  of 
Electra  was  being  performed  in  London  had  nothing  to 
do  with  this  reference! 

6.  Again,  the  statement,  "  Henry  was  not  mistaken," 
referring  to  Mr.  Sidgwick,  is  a  cross  reference,  because  on 
this  day  Mrs.  Verrall  was  reading  the  newly  published 
Memoir  of  Dr.  Sidgwick  and  was  thinking  in  this  general 
strain. 

7.  The  Roden  Noel  correspondence  is  worked  out  at 
great  length,  to  which  we  cannot  do  justice  here.  In  brief 
it  is  this:  January  17,  1904,  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  had 
various  references  to  hope,  wanderer,  etc.,  which  pur- 
ported to  be  a  message  from  Sidgwick,  and  which  now, 
February  28,  1906,  became  explicable  to  Mrs.  Verrall  on 
reading  a  letter  from  him  to  an  intimate  friend,  Mr. 
Roden  Noel. 

114 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

Mrs.  Verrall  is  confident  that  she  had  never  read  any  of 
Mr.  Noel's  poems,  but  still  her  script  of  March  7th  con- 
tained verses  resembling  his.  This  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Hol- 
land, and  her  next  script  gives  the  date  of  Noel's  death, 
and  later  come  definite  references.  Mrs.  Holland  remem- 
bered that  she  had  read  one  or  two  of  his  poems.  On 
March  14th  her  script  contains  numbers,  written  as  words, 
and  a  reference  to  the  central  eight  words  of  a  passage  in 
Revelations.  These  are,  "  for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man," 
and  so  Miss  Johnson  substituted  for  the  numbers  given 
the  corresponding  letters  of  the  alphabet  and  found  that 
they  spelled  Roden  Noel!  In  some  previoiLs  writing 
Hodgson  had  similarly  given  his  name,  so  that  this  trick, 
though  sufficiently  amazing,  was  not  entirely  new. 

In  both  Mrs.  Verrall's  and  Mrs.  Holland's  script  are 
other  vague  references  which  are  considered  applicable  to 
Noel,  and  his  name  is  clearly  given  once  more  in  Mrs. 
Holland 's. 

Here  it  seems  to  me  we  might  ask  again  why  Miss  John- 
son does  not  hold  to  the  rule  she  herself  has  laid  down, 
that  any  knowledge  which  may  have  been  normally  ac- 
quired is  not  evidential?  The  series  of  subliminal  links 
seems  tolerably  clear.  First,  ]\Irs.  Verrall  reads  of  Noel 
in  the  Memoir  of  Sidgwick;  this  recalls  vaguely  his  poems, 
and  she  produces  verse  vaguely  like  his  in  her  script ;  this 
shown  to  Mrs.  Holland  recalls  subliminally  the  date  of 
Noel's  death,  and  later  messages  from  him,  his  name  in 
cryptogram,  and  other  vague  references  both  in  her  and 
Mrs.  Verrall's  script. 

8.  March  2d,  ]\Irs.  Verrall 's  script  referred  to  Massiliotes 
(the  Greek  name  for  natives  of  Marseilles)  and  Posilipo 
(near  Naples,  the  site  of  Virgil's  tomb).  Mrs.  Holland's 
script  of  this  date,  written  twelve  hours  later,  remarked 
that  M.  saw  a  real  place  that  last  time  but  had  never  seen 
the  place  itself,  and  did  not  describe  it  very  clearly.  This 
was  true  of  Posilipo.     Mrs.  Holland's  father  intended  to 

115 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

start  for  Marseilles  the  next  month,  and  go  thenee  to  Sicily 
and  Greece.     Hence  this  is  a  cross  correspondence. 

9,  February  9th,  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script,  appears  the 
name  Fawcett;  February  28th,  Broadlands  was  mentioned, 
a  place  where  Fawcett  visited  and  fished,  as  mentioned  in 
Leslie  Stephens's  life  of  him;  March  28th,  a  reference  to 
Henry  F.,  darkened  windows,  and  a  drawing  of  spectacles ; 
April  4th,  spectacles,  whip,  and  letter,  all  drawn,  are  taken 
to  refer  to  him. 

In  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  March  20th,  planchette  told 
her  and  Mrs.  Forbes  to  open  the  last  morning  paper  at 
marriages  and  deaths  and  look  for  his  name  over  the  col- 
umn. The  first  name  was  Fawcett.  Mrs.  Verrall  had  rela- 
tives of  this  name,  but  they  were  not  connected  with  Henry 
Fawcett. 

Now,  two  things  alone  explain  this  entirely:  First  of 
all,  Mrs.  Holland  frequently  visited  relatives  who  lived  in 
Wiltshire,  where  Henry  Fawcett  did,  and  though  they  did 
not  move  there  until  ten  years  after  his  death,  they  doubt- 
less heard  various  stories  about  him,  as  he  was  so  eminent 
a  man,  and  this  name  might  as  well  crop  up  in  Mrs.  Hol- 
land's writing  as  many  another.  In  the  second  place,  on 
February  21st,  Mrs.  Verrall  met  Mrs.  Holland  and  said 
at  that  time  that  the  name  "  Fawcett  "  had  special  asso- 
ciations for  her.  Up  to  this  date  the  name  had  appeared 
but  once  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script,  and  then  was  inter- 
jected among  unrelated  matter.  But  the  hint  was  enough, 
and  we  have  all  the  following  references,  but  all  referring 
to  the  Fawcett  of  whom  she  knew,  who  happened  to  be  the 
wrong  one. 

The  planchette  reference  is  easily  explicable  as  one  of 
the  subconscious  memories,  of  which  Miss  Goodrich-Freer 
gives  rather  a  parallel  incident,  of  seeing  in  the  crystal 
an  announcement  in  the  paper,  of  which  she  had  no 
memory. 

10.  In  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  of  March  2d,  4th,  and  5th 

116 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

were  various  vague  references  to  ' '  first  among  his  peers, ' ' 
"  pagan  and  pope,"  Gregory,  Basil,  Reformer,  "  club- 
bearer,"  etc.  In  Mrs.  Holland's  of  March  7th,  among 
many  other  things  comes  the  sentence,  "  Ave  Roma  Im- 
mortalis.  How  could  I  make  it  any  clearer  without  giv- 
ing her  the  clew?  " 

Mrs.  Verrall's  scripts  had  recalled  to  Dr.  Verrall  a 
picture  of  Attila  terrified  by  the  vision  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  when  meeting  Pope  Leo,  who  went  out  to  meet 
him  and  save  Rome. 

Mrs.  Verrall  knew  this  picture,  but  it  was  not  recalled 
to  her  by  the  script. 

The  sentence  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script  does  fit  in  aptly 
here,  especially  the  question  part  of  it, ' '  How  could  I  make 
it  any  clearer  without  giving  her  the  clew?  "  But  the  fol- 
lowing sentence  makes  us  question  whether  it  really  was  so 
apt.  This  is:  **  How  cold  it  was  that  winter.  Even  snow 
in  Rome — we  might  have  stayed  at  home  for  that."  Taken 
in  this  connection,  all  the  sentences  seem  to  become  unmis- 
takably a  reference  to  some  pre\dous  visit  to  Rome  and 
some  incident  which  happened  there. 

11.  On  April  11th  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  introduces  the 
idea  of  fiight  in  various  ways;  and,  among  many  other 
things,  in  connection  with  a  passage  supposed  to  refer  to 
the  eruption  of  Vesuvius  then  going  on,  Mrs.  Holland's 
writer  exclaims,  eheu  fugaces!  She  also  refers  to  an 
owl,  and  Mrs.  Verrall  notes  that  on  that  evening  she 
saw  an  owl  more  distinctly  than  ever  before  in  her  life — 
a  real  owl. 

This  perhaps  gives  the  key  to  Mrs.  Verrall's  script, 
which  was  not  written  until  later,  11  p.m.,  and  refers  to 
the  "  black  bat  night  has  floAvn,"  ''  something  fluttered 
and  was  gone,"  evidently  derived  from  her  earlier  out-of- 
door  experience. 

Mrs.  Holland,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  that  the  phrase 
in  her  script,  "  an  owl  this  evening,"  was  simply  a  ref- 
ill 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

erence  to  her  own  stupidity,  the  phrase  being  a  common 
Indian  phrase  of  reproach. 

Since  then  these  phrases  are  easily  explicable  for  each 
automatist,  why  should  we  suppose  any  cross  corre- 
spondence ? 

The  other  successful  cross  references  obtained  through 
LIrs.  Verrall's  w^riting  are  the  following: 

1.  Before  Mrs.  Verrall  knew  Mrs.  Archdale,  a  medium, 
the  following  passage,  then  meaningless  to  her,  had  oc- 
curred in  the  writing:  "  Women  are  bound  or  abound. 
Stewart  and  Haslemere — what  do  they  here?  Hazelrigg 
is  better,"  Stewart  was  the  name  of  Mrs.  Archdale 's  con- 
trol, and  Haslemere  had  definite  connections  with  him, 
while  Hazelrigg  was  very  similar  to  another  name  con- 
nected with  him. 

2.  Between  May  1  and  May  11,  1901,  the  following 
messages  came : 

(a)   Before  17th  it  is  easier  now  to  write. 

(&)   Rosa  Thompson  could  perhaps  but  I  don't  know. 

(c)  Nescio  quid  interponit  se  tuae  menti  mihi  que.  In 
a  glass  is  truth  reversed  read  and  then  search.  False- 
hood is  never  far  away.  Quid  mihi  vis?  non  possum, 
desine.  desjum  (2o,  206)  die  finito,  avSa-  clock  and  time.  H, 
No  power — doing  something  else  to  night.  Note  hour. 
(Then  attempts  at  drawing,  and  when  Mrs.  Verrall  copied 
the  script  afterward,  she  thought  she  was  looking  at  a 
clock  marking  10.25.) 

(d)  Before  the  17th  wait.  Rosa  Thompson  will  speak 
— Lodge  will  tell  you.    Wait,    Do  not  hurry  date  this. 

Mrs.  Verrall  says  that  the  expectation  she  formed  from 
this  script  was  that  on  May  17th  Sir  Oliver  would  tell  her 
of  something  learned  from  Mrs,  Thompson,  the  medium, 
and  that  some  medium  had  received  a  communication  from 
H,,  a  dead  friend,  just  before  10.25  p.m.  on  May  8th. 

As  it  turned  out  really,  on  May  8th,  Mrs.  Thompson 
was  dining  with  the  Lodges,  and  went  into  a  trance  be- 

118 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

tween  10  and  10.40  in  which  H.  appeared,  besides  her 
usual  control,  and  used  the  words  "  falsehood  creeping 
in,"  and  at  the  end  of  the  sitting  the  usual  control  said 
that  some  one  was  calling  H.  Mrs.  Verrall  heard  of  this 
first  on  May  17th. 

One  would  suppose  from  this  that  Mrs.  Verrall 's  sub- 
conscious self  inferred  that  she  was  to  meet  Sir  Oliver 
on  the  17th.  Again,  she  knew  that  Mrs.  Thompson  had 
sittings  with  Sir  Oliver  frequently,  so  that  here,  as  in  other 
cases,  her  familiarity  with  the  possibilities  of  the  situation 
makes  it  impossible  to  consider  the  script  as  more  than  the 
expression  of  her  more  or  less  unconscious  putting  together 
of  many  factors. 

3.  ]\Irs.  Thompson  had  asked  Mrs.  Verrall  to  try  for 
writing  on  a  certain  evening  between  nine  and  ten.  At  this 
time  the  script  wrote:  "  There  is  some  one  with  Mrs. 
Thompson,  another  woman,  taller  and  slighter — she  helps 
her  to  write — the  message  is  not  clear  to  you.  I  do  not 
know  the  house.  I  cannot  take  you  there. ' '  A  week  later, 
and  before  she  had  heard  anything  from  Mrs.  Thompson, 
the  hand  wrote,  "  Mrs.  Thompson  named  a  name,  but 
not  yours — Nelly  could  help  if  she  could  come — she  finds 
it  hard  to  write  and  would  easily  speak." 

Later,  Mrs.  Verrall  heard  that  on  the  first  evening  Mrs. 
Thompson  had  with  her  a  friend  answering  to  the  descrip- 
tion, and  that  Mrs.  Thompson  had  referred  by  name  to 
Mrs.  Verrall 's  daughter,  but  we  are  left  ignorant  as  to 
whether  the  place  of  the  sitting  was  an  unknown  place, 
or  whether  from  the  way  Mrs.  Thompson  made  her  request, 
Mrs.  Verrall  did  not  have  some  reason  to  infer  that  some 
one  would  be  with  her  while  she  was  sitting.  Of  course, 
the  description  of  the  woman  is  too  indefinite  to  have  value. 

4.  The  script  wrote:  "  Betwixt  dark  and  light  a  gray 
figure  in  the  bedroom  not  to  be  feared  you  will  see  on  an 
anniversary — note  the  date — this  year.  Put  the  conversation 
on  paper  that  is  all  I  can  see.     Try  other  nights." 

119 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

No  such  figure  was  seen  by  any  one  as  far  as  can  be 
discovered,  but  six  weeks  later,  in  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting,  a 
reference  was  made  by  the  control  to  a  vision  which  it  said 
Mrs.  Verrall's  daughter  had  seen  while  she  was  awake  in 
a  bedroom.  Mrs.  Verrall,  however,  could  not  find  that 
her  daughter  had  had  any  such  vision.  The  point  here, 
however,  is  the  curious  cross  reference  to  the  non-reality, 
but  the  six  weeks'  lapse  of  time  and  the  vagueness  of  the 
reference  make  it  of  little  value. 

5.  Next  is  a  curious  cross  reference.  January  28,  1902, 
at  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting.  Dr.  Hodgson  proposed  to  try  for 
a  cross  reference,  and  asked  the  control  if  he  could  make 
Helen  (Mrs.  Verrall's  daughter)  see  him  holding  a  spear 
in  his  hand.  The  control  asked,  "  Why  a  sphere?  "  Dr. 
Hodgson  repeated  the  word  "  spear,"  and  the  control 
assented.  February  4th,  at  another  sitting,  he  said  he  had 
made  himself  visible  successfully  with  a  "  sphear. " 

January  31st,  Mrs.  Verrall  was  in  London,  and  had  so 
strong  a  desire  to  write  that  she  excused  hereelf  from 
walking  over  to  a  meeting  with  some  friends  and  sat  down 
to  write,  getting  the  following  message:  "  Panopticon  (p. 
214,  followed  by  a  phrase  in  Greek)  volatile  ferrum — pro 
telo  impinget. " 

The  Greek  is  not  very  good,  but  the  general  sense  of 
the  message  is,  in  Mrs,  Verrall's  own  words,  "  some  sort 
of  universal  seeing  of  a  sphere  fosters  the  mystic  joint 
reception.  Why  did  you  not  give  it?  The  flying  iron 
for  a  weapon  will  hit."  Soon  after  she  found  "  volatile 
ferrum  "  used  in  Virgil  for  spear. 

Mrs.  Verrall  states  that  she  did  not  hear  of  this  sit- 
ting of  Mrs.  Piper  until  February  7th,  and  that  in  no 
previous  writing  had  there  been  any  reference  to  a  spear, 
and  but  one  to  a  sphere,  which  would  seem  to  put  chance 
out  of  the  question  here. 

6.  One  Sunday,  between  11  and  12  a.m.,  Mrs.  Forbes,  a 
medium,  was  writing  with  planchette,  and  it  referred  to 

120 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

Mrs.  Verrall,  and  then  said  that  she  was  sitting  in  a  chair, 
very  comfortable,  "  but  don't  ask  me  to  look  over  her 
shoulder,  for  I  can't  see  that  she  has  got  a  book."  Two 
weeks  later  Mrs.  Verrall,  asked  to  tell  what  she  had  been 
doing  then,  recalled  that  she  had  been  sitting  by  her  hus- 
band in  a  low  chair,  looking  over  with  him  an  article 
written  by  her.  He  had  told  her  to  make  herself  comfort- 
able. Mrs.  Verrall  herself  does  not  consider  this  evidential 
because  she  did  not  write  out  what  she  was  doing  till  two 
weeks  later. 

7.  On  August  28, 1901,  the  script  wrote,  in  Latin,  "  Sign 
with  the  seal.  The  fir  tree  that  has  already  been  planted 
in  the  garden  gives  its  own  portent."  There  followed  a 
rough  scrawl,  and  three  rough  drawings,  which  might  be 
variously  interpreted,  the  first  as  a  cross  or  a  sword;  the 
second  as  a  sail  boat  or  a  bugle  hanging  by  a  cord ;  the  third 
as  almost  anything,  but  INIrs.  Verrall  calls  it  a  pair  of 
scissors  (p.  223). 

On  this  same  date,  but  it  is  not  known  what  time  of 
day,  though  probably  before  Mrs.  Verrall 's  writing,  Mrs. 
Forbes 's  control  wrote,  "  I  am  looking  for  a  sensitive  who 
writes  to  tell  Father  to  believe  I  can  write  through  you — .  . 
I  have  to  sit  with  our  friend  Edmund  to  control  the  sen- 
sitive. ' ' 

Now,  the  cross  reference  here  is  that  JMrs.  Forbes  has 
some  small  firs  in  her  garden  grown  from  seed  sent  her 
by  this  son  while  abroad,  and  that  the  badge  of  his  regi- 
ment is  a  suspended  bugle  surmounted  by  a  crown.  Mrs. 
Verrall  did  not  know  either  of  these  facts  until  several 
months  later.  The  drawings,  however,  are  too  indefinite, 
and  the  reference  to  the  firs  might  be  accidental. 

8.  On  November  23d  Mrs.  Verrall 's  writing  tried  to 
give  a  message  from  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick  who  was 
only  slightly  known  to  Mrs.  Verrall,  and,  November  25th, 
came  another  message  along  the  same  line.  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall was  disturbed  over  it  because  she  did  not  like  to  write 

11  121 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

to  Mrs.    Sidgwick   for   information  about   a  comparative 
stranger. 

On  November  25th  Mrs.  Forbes  wrote,  first  a  confused 
message  from  Gurney  and  a  clearer  one  from  her  usual 
control,  Talbot,  to  tell  Mrs.  Verrall  at  once  that  the 
* '  friends  were  with  her  when  she  was  with  Mrs.  Sidgwick. ' ' 
*'  To  be  with,"  in  Mrs.  Forbes 's  writing,  means  to  sympa- 
thise with,  and  seems  to  indicate  a  knowledge  of  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall's  disturbed  state  of  mind — but  is  too  indefinite. 

9.  Mrs.  Verrall  had  agreed  to  sit  for  automatic  writing 
at  a  certain  time  each  day,  and  Mrs.  Forbes  was  to  do  the 
same,  but  on  a  visit  at  a  friend's  Mrs.  Verrall  was  pre- 
vented for  two  successive  days,  and  was  greatly  annoyed 
over  it,  and  finally  wrote  to  Mrs.  Forbes  that  she  would 
not  try  to  sit  until  she  returned  home.  The  same  day  that 
she  wrote,  Mrs.  Forbes  received  this  message  for  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall: "  Mrs.  Verrall  to  try  to  see  for  H.  H  says — to  say 
friends  can  wait  is  far  from  courteous .  .  .  would  it  seem  fair 
for  the  spirits  to  sit  for  work  for  hours.  .  .  she  sat  with 
foolish ..."  and  various  other  remarks  about  the  importance 
of  regularity  for  the  writing.  So  it  would  seem  that  the 
spirits  had  discovered  her  absence  and  were  reproaching 
her  for  it,  or  that  Mrs.  Forbes 's  subconscious  self  had  re- 
ceived some  message  from  Mrs.  Verrall  telepathieally.  But 
Mrs.  Forbes  knew  she  was  visiting  and  would  not  have  con- 
trol of  her  time,  so  that  the  subconscious  self  may  have 
inferred  a  failure. 

10.  Mrs.  Forbes  received  in  her  writing  the  name  of  a 
certain  control,  followed  by  a  single  word,  and  then  a  mes- 
sage from  Talbot,  saying  that  this  control  "  wanted  you 
to  try  for  a  test  with  our  friend  at  Cambridge.  Write  to 
Mrs.  Verrall  to-day."  It  seems  that  this  particular  word 
in  connection  with  this  control  had  a  deep  meaning  to  Mrs. 
Verrall,  quite  unknown  to  Mrs.  Forbes,  but  we  do  not  know 
enough  about  this  to  judge. 

11.  Mrs.  Verrall  and  her  daughter,  writing  with  plan- 

122 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

chette,  had  a  message  from  Talbot  saying,  "  My  mother 
has  had  a  wounded  man  to  stay  with  her."  Inquiry 
showed  that  she  had  had  a  man  very  ill  with  sciatica  at 
her  home. 

12.  On  July  11th  Mrs.  Forbes  had  a  reference  to  Mrs. 
Verrall  in  her  writing,  and,  July  13th,  Mrs.  Verrall's  hand 
wrote  that  a  message  for  her  M^ent  instead  to  ]\Irs.  Forbes. 
The  hand  purported  to  be  controlled  by  Talbot,  Mrs. 
Forbes 's  usual  control,  and  wrote  further  that  the  message 
was  about  the  water,  and  referred  to  his  lilies.  Mrs.  Forbes, 
in  sending  her  automatic  script  of  July  11th  to  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall, referred  to  the  heavy  rains  in  England.  And  she  had 
in  her  garden  some  lilies  that  had  lately  bloomed,  and 
others  grown  from  seed  sent  by  Talbot  that  had  bloomed 
earlier  in  the  season.  But  rain  and  lilies  are  too  common 
for  the  coincidence  to  be  valuable. 

Mrs.  Verrall's  message  of  July  13th  also  referred  to  the 
21st  and  23d  of  the  month  as  dates  of  interest  for  auto- 
matic writing,  and  on  July  23d  her  hand  wrote,  "  double 
discharge — but  do  not  ask." 

On  this  date  also  Mrs.  Forbes 's  hand  wrote,  "  will  you 
see  for  H  for  writing  to  prove  identity  ? .  . .  Will  you  write 
to  Mrs.  Verrall?.  .  He  only  wants  to  write — you  to  write 
for  him  to  Mrs.  Verrall." 

This  constituted  the  ' '  double  discharge, ' '  and  is  a  curi- 
ous coincidence. 

13.  Mrs.  Forbes  wrote  Mrs.  Verrall  that  a  test  was  being 
prepared  for  her,  and  twelve  days  later  came  this  message 
for  her :  "  H  wishes  ]\Irs.  Verrall  to  open  the  last  book  she 
read  for  him  in  which  is  the  true  word  of  the  test.  If  she 
will  try  to  begin  the  sentence  with  this  word  he  will  be 
sure  to  prove  his  being  the  writer.  . .  " 

Mrs.  Verrall  puzzled  over  the  meaning  of  this  mes- 
sage for  two  days,  but  finally  decided  that  she  would 
fix  upon  a  passage  from  Plato's  Symposium  referring  to 
Diotima. 

123 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

About  three  weeks  later  Mrs.  Forbes 's  hand  wrote  mes- 
sages to  ]\Irs.  Verrall  from  three  controls,  as  follows : 

From  H.  "...  word. .  .  H  make  it.  .  .  with  the-  Diony- 
sus Dion.-" 

From  Gurney :  "  ...  Edmund  writes  to  tell  the  friend 
— who  writes  with  Talbot  word  of  the  test  will  be  Dy.  . . 
Will  you  give  the  sense  of  the  message,  write  to  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall and  say  the  word  will  be  found  in  Myers '  own . .  .  will 
you  send  a  message  to  Mrs.  Verrall  to  say  H  will  see  with 
her  on  Friday.  .  .  " 

From  Talbot :  ...  "  Talbot  wi^ites  to  say  you  can  be 
sure .  .  it  is  one  of  the  most  Hymeneal  songs,  — Love 's  oldest 
melody. ' ' 

]\Irs.  Forbes  has  no  knowledge  of  Plato  nor  of  Diotima, 
There  were  later  attempts  to  complete  the  reference  to  the 
Symposium,  in  other  writings,  combinations  of  letters  like 
"  son,"  "  suspuro,"  etc.,  and  several  times  "  symp  "  fol- 
lowed in  letters  of  a  different  size,  completing  sympathy, 
but  the  complete  name  was  never  obtained. 

14.  January  14,  1903,  Mrs.  Verrall's  hand  wrote,  "  Mrs. 
Forbes  has  sent  it  to  you — or  should  have  hy  now ;  she  has 
got  nearer  and  will  get  the  word.  ..."  Mrs.  Forbes  had 
had  a  message  on  January  11th  containing  Greek  letters  and 
an  attempt  at  the  word,  but  had  not  sent  it  at  once  as  usual. 

15.  One  Sunday  Mrs.  Verrall  fixed  her  attention 
strongly  upon  some  former  conversations  with  her  friend 
H.  before  writing. 

Two  days  later  I\Irs.  Forbes 's  hand  wrote:  "  H  writes 
to  say  Verrall.  .  Verrall  saw  with  H  on  Sunday." 

16.  In  the  midst  of  other  things  there  appeared  in  Mrs. 
Verrall's  script,  in  a  hand  resembling  Mrs.  Forbes 's  writ- 
ing, the  words,  ' '  Harriet  de  Vane  with  another. ' ' 

l\Irs.  Verrall  sent  this  to  Mrs.  Forbes,  and  ascertained 
that  a  pa.stel  drawing  of  her  great-grandmother,  by  Har- 
riet de  Vim,  hangs  in  a  room  where  Mrs.  Verrall  had 
probably  seen  it,  but  the  name  of  the  artist  is  not  visible. 

124 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

This  is  not  really  a  cross  reference.     Mrs.   Verrall  may 
have  known  this  but  forgotten  it. 

17.  Between  6  and  6.30  p.m.  one  day  Mrs.  Verrall 's  hand 
wrote :  ' '  Mrs.  Forbes  has  got  a  message  but  not  about  the 
word,  you  must  wait  for  that. "  ...  Then  came  some  gen- 
eral remarks  and  a  blank  in  which  she  thinks  she  dropped 
to  sleep,  and  upon  waking  the  hand  continued,  "  It  has 
helped  them  and  you  will  get  a  message  now  plain  to  read." 

At  six  the  same  day  Mrs.  Forbes  and  a  friend  be- 
gan a  sitting,  writing  first  with  a  glass  and  letters, 
spelling  the  words,  and  later  using  the  planchette.  The 
complete  message  was:  "  Tell  INIrs.  Verrall  to  take  care — 
to  go —  to  Hove  when  she  is  visiting  Brighton  ALFRED. 
(Then  with  planchette.)  Tell  Mrs.  Verrall  H  sees  with  a 
trouble  of  which  he  cannot  speak — you  will  know — when 
he  writes — Hove." 

Now,  Mrs.  Verrall  was  seriously  concerned  over  the 
trouble  of  a  friend  Alfred  who  lived  at  Hove  near 
Brighton,  and  for  a  week  preceding  this  sitting  had  been 
receiving  letters  about  the  trouble.  The  friend  was  not 
known  either  to  ]\Irs.  Forbes  or  her  friend,  and  ]\Irs.  Ver- 
rall is  sure  they  knew  nothing  of  this  matter. 

18.  A  possible  cross  reference  recommending  ]\Irs.  Ver- 
rall and  Mrs.  Forbes  to  write  on  Wednesday,  but  it  is  not 
certain  that  the  same  Wednesday  was  meant. 

19.  Mrs.  Forbes  had  this  message :  "  ...  A  grower  of 
flowers  one  year  will  be  sower  of  seed. — Send  this  message. 
Edmund  writes  for  H.  to  ask  you  to  say  it  will  be  far  less 
difficult  to  read  the  sense  if  the  younger  Verrall  writes 
with  Planchette ..." 

Miss  Helen  Verrall,  on  reading  this  script,  said  that  in 
a  recent  visit  to  a  friend  there  had  been  nuich  discussion 
with  the  gardener  over  whether  certain  plants  should  be 
raised  from  seeds  or  cuttings.  But  the  reference  is  so  in- 
definite as  to  have  little  value. 

20.  At  the  end  of  a  message  IMrs.  Forbes 's  hand  wrote 

125 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

that  Mrs.  Verrall  would  be  in  telepathic  eommunieation 
with  "  Mrs.  S.,  Alice." 

On  the  date  of  this  writing  Mrs.  Verrall  had  received 
a  letter  from  Mrs.  Alice  Dew  Smith  verifying  a  reference 
to  her  in  a  previous  automatic  writing.  A  coincidence — not 
really  a  cross  reference. 

21.  July  26th,  Mrs.  Forbes  tried  to  make  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall's  writing  produce  the  idea  of  lilies,  but  she  did  not 
succeed.  This  was  to  be  done  through  the  help  of  Edmund 
Gurney,  one  of  ]\Irs.  Verrall's  writers.  Six  hours  after 
Mrs.  Forbes  began  the  experiment,  Miss  Verrall  had  an 
automatic  writing  signed  for  the  first  and  only  time  with 
Gurney 's  name,  and  nearly  a  month  later  came  a  refer- 
ence to  lilies,  with  references  to  a  belt  of  rhododendrons, 
daisies,  and  Renoldson. 

The  last  two  seemed  to  have  no  meaning,  but  ]\Irs.  Forbes 
had  had  a  belt  of  rhododendrons  planted  since  the  Verralls 
had  visited  her. 

22.  Mrs.  Verrall's  hand  wrote:  "  The  picture  in  the 
picture  frame — upon  the  wall — &  no  name  upon  it — in  her 
room,  ask  Mrs.  Forbes. ' '  Mrs.  Forbes  had  recently  framed 
a  tiny  picture  without  a  name  on  it,  before  this  date,  but 
it  was  not  hung  on  the  wall.  Not  a  cross  reference — prob- 
ably a  guess. 

23.  In  a  conversation  with  a  friend  Mrs.  Verrall  made 
the  remark,  with  reference  to  psychical  experiments, 
*  *  Anyhow,  they  teach  one  patience .  .  " 

On  the  same  day  Mrs.  Forbes  and  Mrs.  Baltimore,  writ- 
ing, received  an  '*  insistent  command  "  to  send  the  follow- 
ing message  to  Mrs.  Verrall :  * '  The  last  lesson  to  be  learned 
is  Patience ;  Mrs.  Verrall  is  our  friend  who  has  so  much 
— she  will  be  rewarded  by  making  plain  the  tangle." 

24.  On  October  6th  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  said  that  Mrs. 
Forbes 's  mother  would  want  her  much  that  winter,  and 
she  would  be  in  the  south.  November  30th,  Mrs.  Forbes 
told  Mrs.  Verrall  of  her  mother's  iUness,  and,  December 

126 


CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES 

2d,  she  was  telegraphed  to  go  to  her  mother's  home  in  the 
south,  where  she  had  to  stay  for  some  time.  This  may- 
have  been  inference  from  subconscious  suggestions. 

25.  A  doubtful  connection  between  Mrs.  Verrall  and 
Mrs.  Forbes,  but  a  more  distinct  one  between  Mrs.  Verrall 
and  her  daughter  (p.  263). 

These  cross  references  are  of  a  comparatively  simple 
type,  and,  as  we  have  noted  in  connection  with  each  one, 
many  of  them  lend  themselves  to  a  naturalistic  explana- 
tion quite  as  well  as  to  a  spiritistic.  When  we  consider  the 
imperfect  recording  of  coincident  circumstances,  which 
might  explain  in  the  case  of  each  medium  how  the  idea 
happened  to  rise  in  her  mind,  it  does  not  seem  unreason- 
able to  assume  that  the  remainder  might  also  be  explained 
without  calling  in  the  aid  of  departed  spirits. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

CROSS    CORRESPONDENCES    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Mr.  Piddington  devotes  440  pages  to  this  same  subject 
of  cross  correspondences  in  his  report  entitled,  "  A  Series 
of  Concordant  Automatisms  "  {Proceedings  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  Part  LVII,  vol.  xxii),  which  deals 
with  cross  references  between  ]\Irs.  Piper  and  other  au- 
tomatists,  especially  Mrs.  Verrall. 

This  material  was  obtained  between  November  10,  1906, 
and  June  2,  1907,  when  Mrs.  Piper  was  in  England,  and 
gave  seventy-four  sittings.  Altogether,  about  120  experi- 
ments in  cross  correspondence  were  made.  In  eighteen  cases 
the  word  given  to  the  Piper  controls  to  be  transmitted  was 
selected  by  those  in  charge  of  the  sittings;  in  over  100  by 
the  controls.  Of  the  eighteen  selected  "  on  this  side,"  but 
one  was  certainly  successful.  Of  the  100  odd  selected 
"  on  the  other  side,"  twenty -two  were  counted  successful. 
But  Mr.  Piddington  does  not  believe  that  success  is  to 
be  measured  by  numbers  here,  but  by  the  definiteness  of 
the  correspondence.  He  discusses  twenty-three  correspond- 
ences, and  gives  a  long  section  to  the  test  question  put  in 
Latin  to  the  Myers  control  on  this  subject. 

Mrs.  and  Miss  Verrall  knew  that  cross-correspondence 
experiments  were  being  tried  with  Mrs.  Piper,  and  after 
the  middle  of  March  Mrs.  Holland  also  knew  it.  It  is  alto- 
gether probable  therefore,  that,  quite  unconsciously  to  the 
automatists,  their  secondary  selves  were  trying  to  tune 
themselves  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  when  we  add  that  INIrs.  Ver- 
rall had  ten  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  and  IMiss  Verrall  had 
four,  we  can  see  that  there  was  considerable  opportunity 

128 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

for  them  to  learn  the  characteristics  of  the  Piper  controls 
and  vice  versa.  Furthermore,  they  and  Mrs.  Holland  were 
familiar  with  the  published  records  of  the  Piper  case, 
and  had  this  additional  knowledge  of  the  controls.  No 
allowance  whatever  seems  to  be  made  in  Mr.  Pidding- 
ton's  report  for  the  effects  of  such  knowledge,  and  yet  it 
is  probably  the  explanation  of  whatever  real  connections 
there  are. 

Furthermore,  Mr.  Piddington  drew  upon  the  writing  of 
all  three,  or  sometimes  four,  for  his  correspondences,  no 
matter  whether  the  control  said  he  was  going  to  take  it  to 
any  particular  one  or  not,  and  he  seems  to  set  no  time  limit. 
He  thus  enlarges  his  chances  tremendously  of  finding  such 
connections.  Suppose  that  in  the  letters  of  four  normal 
persons  the  same  subject  should  chance  to  be  referred  to 
within  a  period  of  four  or  five  months,  who  would  assume 
that  some  spirit  had  controlled  these  four  persons  to  refer 
to  that  subject?  Knowing  even  as  little  as  we  do  about 
the  laws  of  association  and  the  way  in  which  a  given  sub- 
ject is  oftentimes  in  the  air,  such  an  a.ssumption  is  ridicu- 
lous, and  even  more  ridiculous  if  applied  to  the  subliminal 
mind,  whose  memories  seem  so  much  more  tenacious  than 
those  of  the  supraliminal. 

But  not  only  does  Mr.  Piddington  do  this,  but  any 
shadow  of  association  is  eagerly  seized  as  proof  of  the  sub- 
tlety of  the  control  in  forming  these  cross  connections.  For 
instance:  on  November  15th,  in  Mrs.  Piper's  trance,  Hodg- 
son said  that  he  would  give  "  St.  Paul  "  to  Mrs.  Holland, 
On  December  31st  Mrs.  Holland's  script  gives  a  reference, 
II  Peter  i,  15;  and  then  gives  quotations  from  John's, 
James's,  and  Paul's  Epistles,  and  out  of  these  four  Mr. 
Piddington  is  certain  that  the  control  regarded  the  refer- 
ence to  Paul  alone  as  of  value.  January  12th,  Mi.ss  Ver- 
rall's  script  contained  the  phrase,  "  robbing  Peter  to  pay 
Paul,"  and,  February  26th,  the  script  remarks  that  .she 
has  not  understood   about   Paul   and  should  ask   Lodge. 

129 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(Lodge  was  the  sitter  to  whom  Hodgson  said  that  he  would 
carry  the  message,  "  St.  Paul,"  to  Mrs.  Holland.) 

Now,  there  were  six  weeks  between  the  first  mention  of 
St.  Paul  in  Mrs.  Piper 's  trance  and  that  in  Mrs.  Holland 's, 
and  nearly  two  months  before  it  was  referred  to  in  Miss 
Verrall's.     Nevertheless,  it  is  a  cross  correspondence! 

Here  is  another  interesting  series.  On  February  11th 
Mrs.  Verrall's  script  had  a  drawing  of  three  converging 
arrows  followed  by  the  words,  "  tria  eonvergentia  in 
unum."  The  next  day  at  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting  Hodgson 
said  that  he  had  given  "  arrow  "  to  Mrs.  Verrall;  and, 
February  17th,  Miss  Verrall's  script  had  a  drawing  of  an 
arrow  with  the  words,  "  many  together  ";  February  18th, 
Mrs.  Verrall  had  several  words  beginning  with  "  ar  "  in 
her  script;  February  19th,  the  Hodgson  control  says  that 
Mrs.  Verrall  wrote  "  ar  "  and  "  w,"  and,  March  18th,  her 
script  again  had  drawings  of  a  bow  and  arrow,  arrow,  and 
target.  During  this  time  at  various  of  Mrs.  Piper's  sit- 
tings the  Hodgson  control  brings  this  up  and  says  that  he 
is  trying  to  make  Mrs.  Verrall  write  the  word,  and  Pid- 
dington  tells  him  that  she  has  drawn  an  arrow  and  written 
words  beginning  with  "  ar. "  Let  us  note  further  that,  Jan- 
uary 29th  and  30th,  Mrs.  Verrall  had  two  sittings  with  Mrs. 
Piper.  Instead  of  suggesting  spirit  communications,  such  a 
series  rather  suggests  some  common  impression  received  by 
the  automatists  and  thus  reproduced,  which  we  will  discuss 
in  connection  with  ''  cup  "  (p.  136). 

February  6th,  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  contained  several 
references  to  laurel,  and  at  no  other  time  during  this  period 
was  there  any  such  reference ;  February  26th,  almost  three 
weeks  later,  the  Myers  control  in  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting  said 
that  he  gave  Mrs.  Verrall  laurel  wreath,  and,  March  17th, 
for  the  only  time,  Miss  Verrall's  script  had  two  references 
to  laurel.  Mrs.  Verrall  had  no  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper 
during  this  time,  but  we  get  the  germ  of  this  whole  matter 
in  a  sitting  which  she  had  January  21st,  when  Rector  asked 

130 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

# 
her  if  she  got  the  message  ' '  wreath, ' '  in  her  writing,  which 

he  had  tried  to  transmit.  She  said  that  she  did  not  under- 
stand, but  it  would  certainly  seem  that  her  subliminal  mind 
set  to  work  on  this  and  later  produced  '*  laurel  wreath," 
the  addition  of  laurel  being  quite  in  accordance  with  her 
classical  training. 

For  the  introduction  of  laurel  three  weeks  later,  in  the 
Piper  sitting,  it  is  harder  to  get  the  connecting  link.  "We 
might  ask  whether  the  Piper  control  was  not  more  or  less 
consciously  trying  to  elaborate  its  first  suggestion  of 
"  wreath,"  according  to  its  knowledge  of  Mrs.  Verrall, 
aided  perhaps  by  casual  references  before  the  waking  Mrs. 
Piper  to  "  laurel  wreath."  Did  Mrs.  Piper  not  visit  gal- 
leries or  see  statues  crowned  with  laurel  wreaths  in  the 
meantime,  which  would  give  that  agile  subconsciousness 
of  hers  all  the  suggestion  necessary?  With  regard  to  Miss 
Verrall 's  script,  we  are  not  told  that  her  mother  did  not 
refer  to  Rector's  puzzling  statement  about  "  wreath,"  and 
if  she  did  it  explains  the  occurrence  here. 

One  of  the  most  complete  incidents,  and  most  import- 
ant in  Mr.  Piddington  's  eyes,  is  the  "  dvros  oupavos  ciktj/awv" 
correspondence.  Mrs.  Verrall  had  had  in  mind  for  some 
time  to  give  a  test  to  the  Piper-Myers  of  his  personality. 
She  wanted  something  which  Mrs.  Piper  could  not  know, 
and  which  would  have  been  very  familiar  to  Myers,  com- 
plex and  involving  associations,  and  probably  known  to  him. 
On  January  15th  the  Myers  control  referred  to  "  celestial 
halcyon  days  "  in  a  sitting  with  Mrs.  Verrall,  and  a  week 
later,  through  a  complex  association  of  ideas,  this  phrase 
suggested  to  Mrs.  Verrall  the  Greek  words  given  above, 
which  may  be  translated,  "  The  very  Heaven  waveless." 
These  are  a  quotation  from  the  fifth  book  of  the  Enneades 
of  Plotinus,  and  are  part  of  a  passage  in  which  he  is  de- 
scribing the  conditions  for  attaining  ecstasy,  and  is  empha- 
sising the  necessity  of  having  the  proper  conditions  in  ex- 
ternal nature  as  well  as  of  body  and  mind.    These  words, 

131 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Mrs.  Yerrall  believed,  would  satisfy  her  test  conditions. 
They  were  in  Greek  and  so  unknown  to  the  waking  Mrs. 
Piper;  the  answer  could  be  short;  they  could  be  proved 
to  be  known  to  Myers,  for  they  were  translated  in  his 
**  Human  Personality  "  (but  the  Greek  words  were  not 
given)  ;  and  the  Greek  words,  but  without  translation, 
headed  a  poem  of  his  on  Tennyson  in  his  book,  "  Frag- 
ments of  Prose  and  Poetry  ";  the  answer  involves  many 
associations  with  ecstasy  and  so  on. 

Before  we  begin  the  discussion  of  this  incident  let  us 
see  what  opportunities  there  may  have  been  for  Mrs.  Piper 
to  learn  these  words  and  their  meaning. 

1.  The  Greek  words,  but  not  the  translation,  are  con- 
nected with  Tennyson  as  above  mentioned.  Mrs.  Piper  is 
sure  that  she  never  had  heard  of  this  book,  and  the  pub- 
lishers, Longmans,  wrote  Professor  James  that  in  the  first 
three  montlis  after  publication  they  sold  only  twenty-five 
copies  direct  in  Boston.  We  are  not  told,  however,  how 
long  this  book  had  been  out  at  the  time  of  the  test.  Mrs. 
Piper  may  be  entirely  sincere  in  saying  that  she  remem- 
bers nothing  of  ever  seeing  the  book,  but  since  the  rule  of 
the  Researchers  is  not  to  consider  any  possible  normal 
knowledge  as  evidential,  Mr.  Piddington  ought  to  assume 
that  she  has  seen  it.  If  she  has,  then  she  connects  these 
Greek  words  with  Tennyson,  and  since  she  knows  the  mean- 
ing of  **  ouranos,"  learned  in  Professor  Newbold's  work 
with  her  in  "  translating  "  the  first  phrase  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  from  Greek,  she  connects  together  the  Greek  word 
for  Heaven  and  Tennyson. 

2.  It  is  to  be  assumed  that  she  has  read  ' '  Human  Per- 
sonality," and  so  has  read  the  translation  of  this  passage 
(with  no  Greek  words  given)    as  from  Plotinus. 

She  may,  then,  have  seen  the  Greek  words  in  connec- 
tion with  Myers  and  Tennyson,  and  their  English  transla- 
tion in  connection  with  Myers's  *'  Human  Personality  " 
and  Plotinus.     Is  there  any  natural  way  in  which,  in  the 

132 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

course  of  the  sixteen  weeks  during  which  this  correspond- 
ence was  being  worked  out,  she  could  have  associated  the 
Greek  forms  with  the  English'^ 

January  29,  1907,  the  Greek  was  given  to  the  Myers 
control,  and  he  was  told  that  it  had  been  suggested  by  some 
passages  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  and  was  asked  to  show 
that  he  understood  its  meaning.  Mrs.  Verrall  expected  for 
answer  either,  1,  a  translation;  2,  a  reference  to  jNIyers's 
poem  on  Tennyson;  or,  3,  a  reference  to  Plotinus  and 
"  Human  Personality." 

January  30th,  Mrs.  Verrall  thought  there  were  vague 
references  to  Tennyson,  but  nothing  very  definite.  She  had 
no  further  sittings  until  April  29th,  so  that  suggestion  from 
her  is  eliminated.  Mr.  Piddington  also  tells  us  that  while 
he  knew  the  meanings  of  the  individual  Greek  words,  he 
only  guessed  at  "  akumon,^^  and  did  not  know  that  this 
passage  had  especial  associations  with  Myers's  "  Human 
Personality,"  Tennyson,  and  Plotinus.  The  other  sitters 
during  this  interval  were  Mr.  Macalister,  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  a 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Russel,  Mrs.  Forbes  for  two  sittings,  and  one 
or  two  others.  Mrs.  Forbes  knew  about  the  experiments, 
and  had  herself  had  some  correspondences  with  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall. Did  she  know  about  this  test  question,  and  could  she 
have  involuntarily  helped  out  the  control? 

At  any  rate,  this  is  the  progress  of  events :  In  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall's  script  there  were,  of  course,  various  references  to  the 
experiment,  and,  finally,  on  February  26th  her  hand  wrote, 
"  I  think  I  have  made  him  understand,"  but  added  that 
the  best  reference  would  not  come  through  Mrs.  Piper. 
Then  followed  the  quotation,  "  And  may  there  be  no  moan- 
ing at  the  bar —  my  Pilot  face  to  face,"  and  the  statement 
that  the  last  poems  of  Tennyson  and  Bro\^Tiing  should  be 
compared.  j\Iarch  6th,  however,  ]\Irs.  Verrall's  control 
doubts  if  he  has  been  able  to  make  the  message  clear. 

On  this  latter  date  Mr.  Piddington  read  the  Piper  con- 
trols a  letter  from  Mrs.  Verrall  asking  for  a  clearer  state- 

133 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ment  of  the  meaning  of  the  Greek,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
sitting  the  Myers  control  suddenly  gave  the  words,  ' '  Cloud- 
less sky  horizon."  In  the  waking  stage  Mrs.  Piper  re- 
peated, ' '  Moaning  at  the  bar  when  I  put  out  to  sea, ' '  and  a 
little  later  the  name,  "  Arthur  Hallam  ";  and  the  words, 
"  good  bye,  Margaret." 

March  11th,  the  Myers  control  said  that  he  had  given 
Mrs.  Verrall  "  bar,"  making  a  rough  drawing,  as  a  sign, 
and  that  she  might  see  he  understood  the  Greek.  Pidding- 
ton  told  him  that  she  had  written  a  quotation  with  this 
word,  and  then  Myers  reminded  him  that  he  had  given  the 
same  quotation  a  week  earlier. 

There  were  no  further  references  to  the  Greek  until 
April  24th,  when  Mrs.  Verrall  had  a  sitting  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reviving  it.  She  wanted  now  to  get  a  reference  to 
"  Human  Personality  "  and  Plotinus.  But  this  sitting 
was  confused  in  the  extreme,  the  writing  was  bad,  and 
Myers  told  Miss  Johnson  explicitly  that  the  Greek  re- 
minded him  of  Socrates  and  the  Iliad,  misspelling  both 
names. 

Now,  in  "  Human  Personality  "  (vol.  ii,  p.  291),  where 
the  translation  of  this  passage  is  given,  the  name  of  Plotinus 
is  also  given,  the  word  "  Heaven,"  and  especially  the  com- 
bination, ' '  for  Plotinus  the  flooding  immensity  of  Heaven. ' ' 
A  little  below  this  follows  the  Greek  phrase,  "  otos  yap  Ipvtro 
"lAiov  "EKTwp,"  in  which  the  word  Ilion,  even  in  Greek  charac- 
ters, is  surely  readable  by  a  person  ignorant  of  Greek,  es- 
pecially since  a  little  below  is  a  reference  in  English  to 
Hector  and  Troy. 

We  have  this  condition  then:  January  30th,  the  Piper 
control,  Myers,  made  vague  references  to  Tennyson  which 
were  at  least  not  discouraged,  and  he  knew  that  the  Greek 
word  ' '  ouranos  ' '  meant  Heaven.  In  the  period  of  incuba- 
tion from  January  30th  to  March  6th  (when  Mrs.  Verrall 
was  not  sitting)  there  were  no  references  to  the  Greek,  but 
we  do  not  know  in  what  connections  the  subjects  of  sky  and 

134 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

horizon  may  have  emerged,  nor  whether  Tennyson  was  not 
brought  up.  The  fact  that  March  6th,  after  a  letter  from 
Mrs.  Verrall  was  read,  her  first  name,  Margaret,  was  given 
is  surely  not  surprising,  and  aside  from  this  there  is  noth- 
ing at  all  to  connect  the  words  "  cloudless  sky  horizon  " 
or  the  quotation  from  Tennyson  with  her  or  with  the  Greek. 
But  the  fact  that,  as  ]\Ir.  Piddington  says,  he  himself  took 
the  phrase  to  be  a  rough  translation  of  the  Greek  gave  the 
control  a  clew  that  this  was  the  direction  for  him  to  go, 
and  so,  ]\Iarch  11th,  we  find  him  saying  that  ]\Irs.  Verrall 
might  see  he  had  understood  the  Greek  because  he  had  given 
her  "  bar."  That  is,  he  thought  the  quotation  was  the  sat- 
isfactory thing  and  not  the  disjointed  words. 

Again  came  a  period  of  incubation  imtil  April  24th, 
when  he  connected  Iliad  and  Socrates  with  the  Greek.  It 
surely  seems  as  if  we  had  here  an  imperfect  memory  of  this 
passage  in  "  Human  Personality  ";  viz.,  vague  knowledge 
by  the  control  that  something  with  Heaven  or  sky  in  it  is 
wanted,  and  that  such  a  passage  occurred  in  the  book; 
memory  of  the  Greek  characters,  which  might  especially 
impress  a  person  who  did  not  understand  them  and  had 
tried  to  puzzle  them  out,  and  especially  a  memory  of  Ilion, 
the  one  word  which  was  intelligible.  The  bringing  in  of 
Socrates  may  have  been  merely  an  accidental  association, 
since  Socrates  is  far  and  away  the  best-knowTi  Greek  to  the 
general  public. 

But  probably  Miss  Johnson's  reception  of  this  associa- 
tion of  Iliad  and  Socrates  with  the  Greek  quotation  showed 
the  control  again  that  he  was  wrong,  and  led  to  at  least 
subconscious  workings  of  Mrs.  Piper's  mind  upon  the  prob- 
lem in  the  two  weeks  before  May  6tli,  resulting  on  that  date 
in  the  victorious  announcement  to  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  "  Will 
you  say  to  Mrs.  Verrall  Plotinus, "  and  in  answer  to  her 
question  as  to  what  that  was,  his  reply,  "  My  answer  to 
autos  ouranos  aTcumon.'' 

Of  course  such  an  explanation  as  this  is  in  part  hypo- 
135 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

thetieal,  but  it  seems  no  more  so  than  Mr.  Piddington  's,  and 
is  more  probable.  Until  these  possibilities  are  disposed  of, 
at  least,  we  do  not  need  to  assume  spirit  agencies  at 
work. 

One  of  the  closest  coincidences  in  time  is  that  of  Cup. 
In  Mrs.  Piper's  sitting  of  March  18th  "  Cup  "  is  given  as 
a  cross  correspondence.  March  19th,  Mrs.  Verrall's  script 
referred  to  a  silver  cup,  and  had  a  picture  of  two  hunting 
crops  over  a  cup.  On  the  same  day  Mrs.  Holland,  then  in 
India,  wrote  about  a  cup  worn  in  the  stone  by  water  drops, 
and  this  was  the  only  time  in  this  period  that  the  word 
appeared  in  her  script.  It  was  also  the  only  time  that  it 
appeared  in  Mrs.  Verrall's.  This  is  indeed  a  striking  co- 
incidence, but  here  again  we  ought  to  know  much  more 
about  the  previous  conditions  in  all  the  automatists'  minds 
before  we  take  it  as  a  cross  correspondence. 

February  27th,  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  contained  the 
name  ' '  Diana  ' '  and  a  passage  in  Latin  evidently  descriptive 
of  her.  March  13th,  the  name  was  not  given,  but  the  idea 
seemed  to  be  in  general  similar  with  confused  references 
to  events  in  the  history  of  Artemis.  As  early  as  January 
7th  ' '  Diana  ' '  had  been  given,  apparently  referring  to  Mrs. 
Forbes,  whose  first  name  is  Diana. 

January  16th,  Mrs.  Holland  referred  to  "  Henry,"  and 
gave  a  quotation  from  ' '  IMacbeth, ' '  and  another  from  Ten- 
nyson's  play  "  The  Cup,"  with  other  reminiscences  of  this 
play.  In  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  of  March  13th  there  was  also 
a  reference  to  ' '  Macbeth. ' ' 

We  get  a  clew  here  in  the  fact  that  Henry  Irving  played 
"  Macbeth  "  and  "  The  Cup  "  in  London  that  winter, 
though  we  are  not  told  just  when. 

The  series  is  then : 

January  7th,  Diana  and  a  possible  reference  to  "  Mac- 
beth ' '  by  Mrs.  Verrall. 

January  16th,  Artemis,  Henry,  quotations  from  "  Mac- 
beth "  and  "  The  Cup  "  by  Mrs.  Holland. 

136 


f^ 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

February  27th,  Diana  and  woods  by  Mrs.  Verrall. 

March  13th,  vague  references  to  Diana  and  "  Macbeth  " 
by  Mrs.  Verrall. 

March  18th,  "  Cup  "  given  in  Mrs.  Piper's  trance. 

March  19th,  Diana  first  referred  to  by  Mrs.  Piper;  ref- 
erence in  Mrs.  Holland 's  and  Mrs.  Verrall 's  scripts  for  first 
and  only  time  to  Cup. 

April  2d,  4th,  and  8th,  statements  in  Mrs.  Piper's  trance 
that  "  Diana  "  had  been  given  to  Mrs.  Verrall. 

Now,  if  the  automatists  knew — as  they  probably  did — 
that  Irving  was  playing  in  those  two  plays,  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  have  a  very  satisfactory  explanation  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  word  Cup,  as  well  as  for  the  combination  of 
Diana  and  INIacbeth. 

But,  further,  the  Cup  is  the  pivot  of  the  play,  and  it 
is  expressly  stated  at  the  beginning  of  the  play  that  it  was 
taken  from  a  shrine  of  Artemis.  The  play  also  has  through- 
out many  references  to  hunting,  stags,  arrows,  etc.,  which 
sufficiently  account  for  the  sylvan  tone  of  Mrs.  Verrall 's 
script  of  this  time,  and  for  the  appearance  of  the  arrows  of 
February  11th,  12th,  and  17th  in  Mrs.  Piper's,  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall's,  and  Miss  Verrall 's  script.  Finally,  Artemis  and  Di- 
ana are  connected  in  one  passage  of  the  play,  explicitly. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  Mrs.  Holland  had  either  seen 
or  read  the  play,  since  she  gave  direct  quotations  from  it  in 
her  script.  If  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mrs.  Piper  also  were  famil- 
iar with  it,  or  even  with  reviews  of  it,  the  whole  matter  is 
explained. 

One  of  the  most  complex  and  ingeniously  worked  out 
cross  correspondences  is  that  called  '*  Light  in  "West." 
Summed  up  as  briefly  as  possible,  this  is  as  follows : 

March  4th,  Mrs.  Verrall  had  in  her  script  references  to 
Hercules  Furens,  his  tying  to  a  pillar,  and  something  in 
Euripides  that  Mr.  Verrall  had  not  seen. 

This  reminded  Mrs.  Verrall  of  a  passage  in  *'  Human 
Personality  "  in  which  there  is  a  quotation  from  Plotinus, 
12  137 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  this  same  passage  was  the  one  referred  to  by  the  Piper- 
Myers  in  connection  with  "  antos  ouranos  akumon.^' 

March  10th,  while  writing  with  the  planehette,  I\Iiss  Ver- 
rall  got  illusions  to  "  Geryon,"  spelled  in  three  ways,  and 
"  Mefistofiles  "  spelled  in  the  Italian  way.  From  this  Mr. 
Piddington  infers  that  the  scribe  had  in  mind  both  the 
monster  killed  by  Heracles  and  the  one  referred  to  in 
Dante ! 

March  11th,  came  a  reference  by  ]\Irs.  Verrall  to  a 
Presence  on  the  eternal  hills,  and  the  lonely  hills,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  emergence  of  the  Wordsworth  country 
topic  in  a  script  belonging  to  the  "  autos  ouranos  akumon  " 
episode. 

March  13th,  Mrs.  Holland's  script  had  an  original  verse 
contrasting  eastern  and  western  sky,  with  a  quotation  from 
a  poem  of  Myers,  and  a  little  later  his  initials. 

March  20th,  Mrs.  Piper's  script  said  that  the  words 
"  I  wandered  lonely  as  a  cloud  that  floats  on  high  o'er 
dale  and  hill  "  were  said  to  have  been  given  to  Mrs. 
Verrall. 

This  introduces  "  by  implication  "  daffodils  and  the 
Wordsworth  country. 

While  mentioning  other  words  given  to  Mrs.  Verrall 
the  Myers  control  also  said,  ' '  I  referred  also  to  a  quotation 
of  my  own  in  which  I  said,  where  did  he  come  from  whither 
is  he  going. ' ' 

March  25th,  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script  had  various  references 
to  club  and  key,  east  and  west,  Hercules,  shadows. 

Mr.  Piddington  works  out  with  much  detail  and  many 
quotations  that  this  signifies  that  Heracles  is  in  some  way 
a  link  between  east  and  west. 

March  27th,  Mrs.  Holland 's  script  had  a  quotation  from 
Tennyson 's  ' '  Maud, ' '  followed  by  the  words,  ' '  Not  Maud, 
Sylvia." 

Now,  says  Mr.  Piddington,  Sylvia  is  the  name  of  Myers 's 
daughter,  and  this  is  the  only  place  where  it  is  mentioned. 

138 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

Leopold,  the  oldest  son,  is  referred  to  equally  irrelevantly 
and  but  once,  when  a  reference  to  Browning 's  ' '  Herakles  ' ' 
is  made,  and  Harold,  the  other  son,  is  similarly  referred  to 
once  in  Mrs.  Piper's  with  a  reference  to  Euripides.  ''  This 
apparently  irrelevant  affixing  .  .  .  was,  I  consider,  done  in 
order  to  show  that  the  subjects  of  the  three  scripts  formed 
part  of  one  family  of  ideas,  and  were  meant  to  be  pieced 
together:  a  clew  that  was  badly  needed,  since  between  the 
quotation  from  Maud  and  the  two  allusions  to  Euripides 
there  most  certainly  did  not  exist  any  obvious  connec- 
tion."! ! 

April  29th,  Mrs.  Verrall  sat  with  Mrs.  Piper  and  was 
told  by  the  Myers  control  that  he  had  succeeded  in  gi\'ing 
her  a  D  in  one  cross  correspondence.  She  took  this  to  be 
the  first  letter  of  Dante,  but  Myers  said  that  it  was  not, 
and  added  that  he  wrote  "  lonely  wandering  cloud.  Daf- 
fodils." 

Now,  if  one  goes  back  over  these  references,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  connections  are  so  loose  that  they  prove  noth- 
ing at  all.  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  contains  no  allusions  to 
Wordsworth  save  the  barely  possible  one  contained  in  a 
reference  to  a  Presence  in  the  hills;  Mrs.  Piper's  contains 
none  to  Hercules  and  the  club  and  key ;  Mrs.  Holland 's  con- 
tains none  to  either  of  these,  but  only  a  stanza  of  poetry 
contrasting  eastern  and  western  sky  at  the  end  of  a  win- 
ter's day — certainly  a  common  theme  in  poetry.  All  the 
ingenious  cross  connections  seem  to  me  to  be  purely  the  cre- 
ation of  Mr.  Piddington's  own  mind. 

In  answer  to  a  criticism  that  IMyers  does  not  ear-mark 
his  cross  correspondences  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  Mr.  Pid- 
dington  says  that  there  are  eleven  cases  where  he  does  do 
so,  as  follows: 

1.  "  Library,  my  own  name  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick's." 
The  ear-mark  is :  "  I  will  give  the  message  elsewhere  too 

to  day.  .  wait  for  their  answer." 

2.  "  Laurel  Wreath." 

139 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

' '  No  more  to  day.  —  await  the  better  news  that  brings 
assurance  with  a  laurel  crown. ' ' 

3.  "  Arrow." 

Drawing  of  three  arrows,  followed  by  the  words  ' '  tria 
convergentia  in  unum." 

4.  "  Crossing  the  Bar." 

' '  I  think  I  have  got  some  words  from  the  poem  written 
down — if  not  stars  and  satellites,  another  phrase  will  do  as 
well.  And  may  there  be  no  moaning  at  the  bar — my  Pilot 
face  to  face." 

5.  "  Hercules  Furens  of  Euripides." 

"  Ask  elsewhere  for  the  Bound  Hercules." 

6.  "Angel." 

Drawing  of  an  angel,  followed  by  the  words  "  F.  W. 
H.  M.  has  sent  the  message  through — at  last!  " 

7.  "  Azure  "  and  "  Horizon." 

' '  We  will  try  to  give  the  message  to  them.  It  has  come 
first  to  you. ' ' 

8.  "  Shadow." 

"  Let  Piddington  know  when  you  get  a  message  about 
shadow. ' ' 

9.  "  Laus  Deo." 

"  Laus  in  aeternum  Aetemo  Deo,"  followed  by  allu- 
sions in  Greek  to  the  combination  of  like  parts, 

10.  "  Fairy." 

' '  Faery  lands  forlorn, ' '  followed  by  the  words  '  *  I  will 
try  to  get  the  idea  elsewhere  conveyed — but  it  is  hard  and 
I  know  I  have  failed  before." 

11.  "  Light  in  the  West." 

' '  You  will  find  that  you  have  written  a  message  to  Mr. 
Piddington  which  you  did  not  understand  but  he  did.  Tell 
him  that." 

In  other  cases  he  says  the  significant  word  was  empha- 
sised either  by  repetition  or  capital  letters — but  these  are 
constantly  used  for  any  sort  of  emphasis  or  clearness,  and 
are  not  peculiar  to  the  cross  references. 

140 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

Mrs.  Verrall  discusses  in  particular  two  of  the  cross 
correspondences.  On  April  16th  Mrs.  Holland's  script  con- 
tained the  words  "  Maurice,  Morriss,  Mors,"  and  a  phrase 
referring  to  the  idea  of  death.  On  April  17th,  in  the  wak- 
ing stage  of  her  trance,  Mrs.  Piper  said,  "  Sanatos,  Tan- 
atos, "  and  on  April  23d  "  Thanatos,"  the  Greek  word  for 
death.  On  April  29th  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script  had  four  quo- 
tations, all  referring  to  death.  She  says,  "  It  can  not  bo 
accident  which  combines  in  each  case  a  suggestion  of  sound 
with  the  idea  of  death  and  makes  use  of  the  three  different 
languages  through  the  three  automatists. " 

Again,  on  January  23d  and  28th,  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script 
contained  allusions  to  hope,  star,  and  Browning's  "  Abt 
Vogler  ";  on  February  3d,  Miss  Verrall's,  to  star  and 
Browning;  on  February  11th  Mrs.  Piper's  controls  an- 
nounced "  Browning,  Hope,  and  star  "  as  a  cross  cor- 
respondence ;  on  February  17th  i\Iiss  Verrall 's  script  again 
alluded  to  star  and  Browning,  and  on  March  6th  and  after- 
ward the  Piper  controls  claimed  that  this  cross  correspond- 
ence was  "  an  answer  to  the  Latin  message." 

Now,  in  "  Abt  Vogler  "  there  is  no  reference  to  hope, 
and  this  seems  to  be  of  no  significance,  but  there  are 
two  lines  containing  the  word  *'  star,"  viz.,  "  Not  a  point 
nor  peak  but  found  and  fixed  its  wandering  star,"  and, 
"  That  out  of  three  sounds  he  frame,  not  a  fourth 
sound,  but  a  star."  Which  of  these  two  lines  is  the  one 
meant  1 

Miss  Verrall's  script  contains  references  to  "  heav- 
enly harmony, "  "  mystic  three, "  "  and  above  it  all  is  the 
star,"  which,  Mrs.  Verrall  says,  shows  that  the  second  is 
the  one  meant.  Now  this  line  "  is  singularly  appropriate 
as  the  subject  of  a  cross  correspondence  of  the  particular 
type  desired,  so  that  the  choice  of  topic  no  less  than  the 
method  of  conveyance  points  to  an  intelligent  response  to 
the  request  of  the  experimenters  made  in  the  Latin  mes- 
sage, and  justifies  the  claim  that  it  was  an  answer  to  the 

141 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

message.  It  is  true  that  the  Piper  controls  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  translating  the  Latin  message,  but  they  did  better! 
They  acted  upon  it, ' '  and  this  is  especially  significant  since 
in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  of  January  23d  there  appears  for 
the  first  time  the  sign  of  a  triangle  within  a  circle  which 
on  January  16th  Mr.  Piddington  had  asked  the  Piper  con- 
trol to  use  whenever  he  gave  a  cross  correspondence. 

In  summarising  this  long  labour  to  prove  the  existence 
of  cross  correspondences  which  are  to  prove  that  the  con- 
trol is  in  truth  a  real  and  distinct  personality  from  Mrs. 
Piper's  subconsciousness,  I  find  it  somewhat  difficult  to  do 
justice  both  to  Mr.  Piddington 's  fairmindedness  in  publish- 
ing all  the  data  at  hand,  and  at  the  same  time  to  the  obvi- 
ous defects  of  the  work. 

1.  First  of  all,  when  cross  correspondences  were  to  be 
the  chief  focus  of  interest  during  all  these  sittings,  why 
did  the  Society  allow  two  of  the  other  mediums  who  were 
to  be  concerned  in  these  correspondences,  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Verrall,  to  have  frequent  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper?  I  am 
told  by  Mrs.  Piper  herself  that  she  did  not  know  that  they 
were  having  these  sittings  until  they  were  through,  since 
they  did  not  come  into  the  room  until  after  she  entered  the 
trance  and  left  before  she  emerged  from  it,  and  presum- 
ably those  having  the  matter  in  charge  believed  that  thus 
they  excluded  the  conscious  giving  of  information.  I  also 
understand  that  Mrs.  Piper  did  not  see  the  Verralls  during 
her  stay  while  in  her  waking  state. 

But  of  what  avail  was  all  this  care  when  the  main  thing 
was  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  Piper  control  to  get  infor- 
mation ?  In  these  sittings  we  find  the  Piper  control  asking 
Mrs.  Verrall  questions  about  her  automatic  writing,  whether 
she  has  got  this  or  that  message,  etc. ;  and  knowing  what 
we  do  about  the  control  we  may  be  sure  that  he  was  much 
on  the  alert  for  any  indications  of  things  in  which  he  was 
interested.  Of  course  Mrs.  Verrall  tried  not  to  betray 
these,  but  can  any  student  of  the  subconscious  mind  pos- 

142 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

sibly  assume  that  she  did  not  betray  her  interests  in  a 
thousand  and  one  involuntary  ways? 

Those  having  charge  of  the  matter  could  not  well  have 
done  anything  more  detrimental  for  the  value  of  cross  corre- 
spondences than  to  allow  these  sittings.  This  is  emphasised 
by  the  statement  which  they  themselves  make  without  see- 
ing its  significance,  viz.,  that  Mrs.  Piper  is  rarely  the  first 
to  give  the  cross  correspondence  but  is  usually  the  second 
and  sometimes  the  third.  That  is,  her  control  knew  that 
the  thing  most  in  mind  was  cross  correspondences,  and  was 
always  on  the  alert  to  detect  signs  of  special  interest  in  the 
disconnected  words  which  he  threw  out  both  in  the  trance 
and  the  waking  stage.  We  have  plenty  of  cases  where  he 
made  wrong  inferences,  and  we  should  not  be  surprised 
that  sometimes  he  made  correct  ones  when  we  consider 
that  nearly  every  one  of  his  sitters  was  a  believer  in  Spirit- 
ism, and  had  been  a  friend  of  the  living  Myers,  and  so 
could  not  possibly  be  on  the  alert  to  prevent  himself  from 
betraying  knowledge  as  an  unbeliever  and  stranger  would 
have  been. 

I  feel  justified,  therefore,  in  throwing  out  at  one  stroke 
every  cross  correspondence  between  Mrs.  Piper  and  Mrs. 
and  Miss  Verrall  that  occurred  after  Mrs.  and  ]\Iiss  Verrall 
began  to  have  sittings;  and  of  course  no  one  can  consider 
the  correspondences  between  the  mother  and  daughter  as 
having  any  scientific  value  to  prove  spirit  communication, 
interesting  though  they  doubtless  are  as  showing  the  in- 
voluntary ways  in  which  we  betray  what  is  in  our  own 
minds  and  assimilate  what  is  in  others'. 

But  if  we  eliminate  all  these,  we  have  left  no  cross  cor- 
respondences between  the  Verralls  and  Mrs.  Piper! 

Now  as  to  Mrs.  Holland  and  Mrs.  Piper.  There  were 
no  cross  correspondences  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script  with  the 
Latin  message,  with  "  Hope,  star,  and  Browning,"  nor 
with  "  autos  ouranos  akiimon,"  which  are  considered  by 
far  the  most  significant  references  of  all. 

143 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Those  with  her  are:  St.  Paul,  Francis  and  Ignatius, 
steeple,  cup,  Diana,  Euripides,  spirit  and  angel,  light  in 
West,  azure  and  horizon,  thanatos.  We  have  already  dis- 
cussed all  of  these  save  the  last  two,  and  they  are  not  dif- 
ferent in  type  from  the  others.  Here,  again,  is  it  reasonable 
on  the  basis  of  such  similarities  to  argue  to  the  momentous 
fact  of  spirit  communication? 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  similarities  which  do  exist 
are  no  more  numerous  and  close  than  can  be  found  by 
comparing  the  record  of  the  thoughts  of  any  two  or  three 
persons  of  even  quite  different  education. 

To  prove  this  I  carried  out  an  experiment  under  far 
more  rigid  conditions  than  those  of  the  cross  correspond- 
ences. My  subjects  were  three  women,  two  of  whom  had 
once  been  introduced  two  years  previous  to  the  experiment 
but  had  never  met  since,  and  the  third  of  whom  was  un- 
known to  both  the  others.  The  three  had  no  common  ac- 
quaintance save  myself,  and  I  had  never  talked  of  them  to 
each  other.  One  of  the  three  was  a  graduate  of  a  woman 's 
college,  widely  travelled,  and  actively  engaged  in  philan- 
thropic and  educational  work.  The  second  had  no  college 
training,  but  an  art  education,  was  active  in  social  and 
church  life,  and  unusually  interested  in  literature.  The 
third  is  a  graduate  of  a  coeducational  institution,  has  a 
Ph.D.,  and  devotes  practically  all  her  time  to  experimental 
psychology. 

Each  subject  was  to  take  fifteen  minutes  of  each  day 
in  writing  out  as  many  of  her  thoughts  as  she  could  catch. 
She  was  to  let  her  mind  be  as  passive  as  possible  and  catch 
as  many  of  the  fugitive  thoughts  as  she  could.  This  was 
to  be  continued  one  week. 

When  I  began  to  compare  the  similarities  I  soon  saw 
that  it  would  take  a  larger  volume  than  Mr.  Piddington's 
if  I  were  to  elaborate  the  correspondences  after  his  inimi- 
table style,  and  so  here  I  will  only  take  those  of  one  day. 
Note  that  I  compare  only  the  writing  of  the  same  day, 

144 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

and  do  not  feel  free  to  extend  my  time  over  weeks  and 
months  as  he  does. 

I  give  first  the  record  of  each  subject : 

A.   B. 

I  am  a  little  chilly.  Visual  image  of  streets  as  I  saw  them 
to-night,  then  of  dining  table  at  supper  as  I  tell  about  it.  I 
wonder  what  sort  of  girl  —  is.  Wonder  if  I'll  receive  a 
package  by  mail  to-morrow.  Wonder  if  mamma  or  A.  will 
send  me  a  birthday  present. ..  .Wish  I  were  not  such  a  poke 
about  things  I  hate  to  do.  Image  of  book  in  which  I  recorded 
my  name  to  take  three  volumes  from  psychological  laboratory. 

.  ..  .Memory  images  from  Mr.  W.'s  experiment Image  of 

falling  stars,  then  of  hill  to  the  west  and  a  picnic  a  week  ago. 
...I'm  disgusted  here.  Nothing  satisfies  me. ...Image  of 
soft  green  robe  worn  by  friend.  Image  of  friend.  Memory 
of  various  things  which  happened  with  —  last  summer.  Visual 
imagery  of  lake  and  scenes  of  last  trip. 

C.   E. 

Miss  T.'s  face  comes  to  me,  fresh  coloured,  green-gray  suit 
accompanying  face  picture.  I  see  her  very  plainly,  now  she  is 
speaking,  smiling.  I  am  sorry  to  have  left  her  rather  abruptly 
this  A.M.  How  damp  and  muddy  under  foot  it  was.  I  clam- 
bered into  a  car.  Dr.  —  told  me  she  read  a  great  deal  of 
fiction  to  take  her  mind  from  her  work.  She  can  almost  always 
sleep,  usually  at  will.  I  asked  why  she  did  not  read  something 
really  interesting.  That  would  also  take  her  mind  from  her 
work  and  give  a  pleasant  thought  companionship  in  her  lonely 
hours.  Which  expression  makes  me  smile  inwardly  as  I  recall 
Mrs.  L.,  who  said  that  of  confirmation.  I  see  her  now  and  hear 
her  voice,  slow  and  matter  of  fact —  and  what  awful  things  she 
would  say —  you  were  never  at  ease  unless  you  were  alone  or 
knew  your  company —  her  relation  of  disorders  and  diseases  in 
that  voice  on  the  way  home  from  church.  Awful!  And  she 
was  contemplating  matrimony  again — was  it  only  the  second 
time  or  was  it  the  third  venture,  when  she  died  suddenly.  I 
touched  her  hand  helping  to  make  her  nice  for  the  funeral, 

145 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  how  cold  and  startling  it  was.  Her  dear  old  father —  How 
fond  I  was  of  that  dear  old  true  hearted  Englishman  from  the 
Lorna  Doone  country,  I  really  think  I  never  had  a  truer 
friend.     Mr.  S.  used  to  say  so  and  call  him  my  devoted  ad- 


J.   K. 

One  difficulty  about  getting  a  passive  mind  seems  to  be  that 
it  is  hard  to  make  a  mind  passive  at  the  same  time  that  one 
is  actively  observing  its  processes  actively  formulating  those 
words  down  on  paper.  Of  course  one  ought  to  make  the  proc- 
esses automatic  and  do  the  active  part  as  reflexly  as  possible. 
I  think  this  could  be  cultivated.  How  far  this  artificial  cul- 
tivation would  alter  the  normal  processes  I  do  not  know.  It 
seems  a  good  deal  like  cultivating  the  day  dreaming  we  were 
warned  against  in  early  life,  as  a  squandering  of  time  and 
encouraging  of  mental  weakness.  Perhaps  if  I  just  think 
nouns  or  objects  in  a  detached  way  it  may  bring  the  result. 
The  trouble  is  everything  suggests  relations  and  ramifications. 
Nothing  in  one's  mind  really  is  detached  and  loose  in  adult 
life.  It  is  bound  by  a  thousand  fine  ties  of  association  into 
intricate  connections.  House,  spoon,  cat,  table,  rug,  floor,  lamp, 
door,  woods,  dreams,  Keats,  tempests,  cars,  skies,  ponds,  toys, 
raffia,  garden,  kiosk,  tuberculosis,  lamp,  children,  lunch,  books, 
technology,  conceit,  symphony,  sleep,  rest,  death,  fire,  gymna- 
sium, college. 

But  faster  than  any  pencil  can  write  them  down  at  least  two 
thirds  of  these  nouns  have  rayed  out  electric  flashes  of  other 
words,  pictures,  arguments,  stories,  literature.  The  fact  is,  our 
modern  minds  are  too  full,  too  distracted,  too  strenuous,  to 
slip  off  in  little  boats  of  idle  dreams  along  one  slender  current 
of  thought.  They  dart  a  thousand  ways  like  dragon-flies  over 
a  pool.  I  wish  I  were  there  in  the  forest  throwing  a  line  for 
trout,  just  the  zip  of  my  reel  for  sound  in  a  still  world. 

The  trolley  rushes  by  in  a  torrent  of  uproar,  the  yelp  and 
shriek  of  automobiles  spoils  my  forest,  spoils  my  string  of 
nouns.  Perhaps  the  noise  of  the  outer  world  is  partly  to  blame 
for  my  intractable  mind  that  won't  get  passive  and  float  down 
a  stream  of  subconscious  suggestion. 

146 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

Note  now  the  many  coincidences: 

(1)  The  reference  by  A.  B.  to  psychological  laboratory 
and  experiment;  by  J.  K.  to  experimenting  to  make  the 
mind  automatic;  and  by  C.  E.  to  Miss  T.,  who  is  chiefly 
associated  in  her  thoughts  with  psychology. 

(2)  A.  B.  refers  to  the  streets  as  she  saw  them  that 
night;  C.  E.  to  the  damp,  wet  streets;  and  J.  K,  to  the 
noise  of  the  streets,  trolley,  etc.  Both  J.  K.  and  C.  E.  refer 
to  the  car  or  trolley. 

(3)  Stars,  hill,  picnic,  and  lake  in  A.  B.'s  give  a  sylvan 
setting,  which  is  carried  out  by  J.  K.  in  the  thought  of 
herself  fishing  for  trout  in  the  forest,  and  by  C.  E.  in  her 
reference  to  the  Lorna  Doone  country,  which  "  by  impli- 
cation ' '  always  brings  up  the  thought  of  the  deep  pool  and 
fishing  described  in  the  story. 

(4)  Mr.  W. 's  experiment  is  on  music,  as  referred  to  by 
A.  B.,  and  J.  K.  suddenly  ejaculates,  "  Concert,  sym- 
phony !  ' ' 

(5)  A.  B.  refers  to  trance,  which  is  closely  connected 
in  its  characteristics  to  sleep,  relaxation,  day  dreaming, 
etc.,  as  mentioned  both  by  J.  K.  and  C.  E. 

(6)  Death  is  emphasised  by  C.  E.,  and  also  emerges  in 
J.  K.'s  mind. 

(7)  A  delicate  green  is  referred  to  both  by  A.  B.  and 
C.  E.,  while  it  is  brought  in  "by  implication  "  in  J.  K.'s 
picture  of  the  forest. 

But  more  than  these  superficial  coincidences  is  the  un- 
derlying idea  of  unity  or  interdependence  in  all  three.  In 
C.  E.  this  is  introduced  in  the  pictures  of  matrimony, 
companionship,  and  friendship,  which  fill  nearly  all  her 
space.  It  appears  in  J.  K.  in  her  discussion  on  the  rela- 
tions between  ideas,  and  by  contrast  in  A.  B.'s  irritation 
over  her  unsettled,  disjointed  life  at  that  time. 

If  these  three  ladies  were  mediums,  and  I  Mr.  Pidding- 
ton,  I  should  at  once  infer  that  some  one  control  had  been 
actively  at  work  striving  to  impress  upon  all  three,  unknown 

147 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

to  each,  the  idea  of  interdependence  or  association,  which  is 
so  essential  if  those  *'  on  this  side  of  the  veil  "  are  to  co- 
operate with  those  on  the  other  side ! 

But  since  I  am  not  Mr.  Piddington,  these  cases  seem  to 
me  to  show  very  nicely  how  much  greater  our  community 
of  thought  is  than  we  usually  realise. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  it  seems  to  me  that  one  must  crit- 
icise the  tortuous  explanations  and  far-fetched  associations 
which  Mr.  Piddington  seems  to  consider  the  best  proof  that 
the  control  is  a  distinct  personality.  Of  course  he  is  ham- 
pered at  every  step  by  the  fact  that  he  believes  in  telepathy, 
and  must,  therefore,  in  framing  an  experiment,  so  do  it 
as  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  any  possible  thought  trans- 
ference. How  difficult  this  is  the  reader  will  not  appreci- 
ate until  he  remembers  that  as  this  theory  has  been  ex- 
tended, any  living  person  may  transfer  to  any  other  living 
person  any  thought  that  exists  either  in  his  conscious  or 
his  subconscious  mind.  Granted  this,  we  can  easily  enough 
see  that  when  a  cross  correspondence  is  so  obscure  that  it 
has  no  meaning  for  anybody  concerned  in  giving  it,  but 
only  for  the  interpreter  who  compares  the  various  scripts, 
it  will  be  the  best  sort  of  message.  Let  us  for  the  minute 
grant  this,  and  see  whether  even  then  the  conditions  are 
good,  as  set  by  Mr.  Piddington. 

First  of  all,  as  to  time  conditions.  Mr.  Piddington 
seems  to  set  no  limits  here.  Any  common  reference  in 
any  of  the  four  scripts  coming  on  any  date  between  Novem- 
ber 15th  and  June  2d  may  be  a  cross  correspondence. 
But  this  is  nothing  less  than  absurd,  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  psychologist,  and  especially  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
student  of  the  subconscious.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
given  such  an  interval  we  could  hardly  find  any  two  per- 
sons of  the  same  nationality,  or  even  of  the  same  race,  who 
would  not  have  some  such  similarities. 

Second,  as  to  the  mediums.  Mr.  Piddington  says  that 
even  when  the  control  says  he  will  give  a  certain  word  to 

148 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

one  medium,  and  it  does  not  appear  with  that  medium  but 
does  with  one  of  the  others,  it  is  a  cross  eorraspondenee. 
But  again  this  is  unreasonable,  and  gives  the  control  an 
unfair  advantage,  allowing  a  far  wider  range  of  associa- 
tions than  would  otherwise  come  in. 

Thirdly,  throughout  this  whole  work  the  Myers  control 
seems  to  have  descended  nearly,  if  not  quite,  to  the  Phinuit 
level.  When  he  succeeds,  he  brags ;  when  he  fails,  he  bul- 
lies Rector,  evades,  etc.,  quite  in  Phinuit 's  style.  He  never 
admits  ignorance,  but  always  blames  conditions,  "  the 
light,"  etc.,  in  the  most  inconsistent  ways.  Indeed,  his  only 
test  of  whether  conditions  are  right  is  whether  he  succeeds 
in  telling  the  sitter  what  he  wants  to  know.  He  never 
makes  any  statement  of  what  conditions  per  se  are  con- 
ducive to  success. 

We  get  an  interesting  side  light  on  this  matter  in  some 
remarks  made  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  (pp.  439-40)  apropos  of 
a  test  she  gave  the  Myers  control.  She  thinks  that  the  con- 
trol showed  more  knowledge  of  the  test  than  could  be  attrib- 
uted to  chance,  but  that  some  people  might  say  that  he 
obtained  it  from  telepathy,  and  that  Myers's  spirit  was 
not  truly  present.  She  says:  "  The  main  considerations 
are  on  the  one  side  that  the  trance  personality  itself  as- 
sumes that  the  information  came  from  the  dead ;  and  on  the 
other  that  it  did  not  come  at  all  except  in  the  presence  of 
a  living  person  who  possessed  it,  and  then  more  in  accord- 
ance with  that  person's  views  than  with  Mr.  Myers's.  It 
may  perhaps  be  urged  that  I,  the  living  person,  had  not 
previously  shown  any  power  as  a  telepathic  agent.  But 
this  does  not  count  for  much,  for  I  had  not  previously  suc- 
ceeded in  any  way  as  a  sitter  with  Mrs.  Piper.  My  sittings 
with  her  when  she  was  in  England  before  were  a  complete 
failure.  Some  new  condition  must  therefore  have  been  in- 
troduced in  the  present  case,  and  there  is  no  more  difficulty 
in  supposing  this  to  be  the  breaking  down  of  some  barrier 
between  my  mind  and  Mrs.  Piper's,  which  makes  telepathy 

149 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

now  possible,  than  in  supposing  any  other  change  in  the 
psychical  relations  between  us." 

Now,  between  these  two  visits  of  IMrs.  Piper,  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick  had  apparently  been  gradually  tending  more  to  the 
spiritistic  hypothesis,  and  Dr.  Sidgwick  had  died.  She  did 
not  have  any  sittings  alone  until  March  20th,  and  before 
that  date  but  two,  with  Mr.  Piddington.  By  this  time  Mrs. 
Verrall's  series  was  complete,  and  the  control  had  enough 
information  to  go  on  successfully  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
Mrs.  Sidgwick  seems  to  be  far  more  non-committal  than 
any  of  the  other  sitters.  Mrs.  Piper  herself  has  referred 
to  Mrs.  Sidgwick  as  being  very  intellectual  and  very  hard 
to  convince.  In  short,  if  we  were  to  put  it  somewhat  bru- 
tally, the  control  finds  Mrs.  Sidgwick  harder  to  "  pump  " 
than  most  of  the  others  are,  but  in  this  series  she  is  less  on 
her  guard  than  she  was  twenty  years  ago,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  control  has  more  confidence  in  himself  now  than 
he  had  then.  These  facts  surely  account  for  the  "  breaking 
down  of  the  barrier  "  to  which  Mrs.  Sidgwick  refers. 

These,  with  a  few  given  by  Hyslop,  conclude  the  cross 
correspondences  published  up  to  date.^  When  we  consider 
the  looseness  of  the  conditions  set  by  the  investigators,  they 
seem  scarcely  worth  serious  consideration,  and  would  not 
be  save  that  through  the  public  press  grossly  exaggerated 
accounts  have  appeared  of  their  coincidence  both  in  time 
and  meaning. 

Let  us  summarise  briefly  what  they  are:  Out  of  about 
120  cross  correspondences  in  the  Piper  sittings  the  investi- 
gators themselves  consider  twenty-three  correct.  Of  this 
number  all  but  one  of  the  references  were  chosen  by  the 
controls,  and  in  most  cases  no  warning  was  given  that  they 
were  cross  correspondences.  The  scripts  had  to  be  gone 
over  repeatedly  and  searched  for  hidden  meanings  before 
the  correspondences  could  be  discovered,  even  with  the  best 

'  But  see  Appendix. 
150 


CROSS  CORRESPONDENCES  WITH  MRS.  PIPER 

will  in  the  world  to  discover  them  on  the  part  of  the  inves- 
tigators. In  order  to  establish  them  further  the  investi- 
gators could  not  accept  the  statements  of  the  controls  that 
they  gave  the  reference  to  some  particular  medium,  but  dis- 
regarded these  assertions  and  took  any  reference  from  any 
of  the  four  mediums  concerned,  at  any  time  within  six 
months,  no  matter  how  vague  or  common  the  reference. 
This  was  done  with  scarcely  any  attempt  to  note  occur- 
rences, newspaper  accounts,  literature,  current  topics,  etc., 
which  might  have  brought  up  that  reference  to  the  various 
mediums,  and — worst  of  all — no  attempt  is  made  to  cor- 
relate the  sittings  of  Mrs.  and  Miss  Verrall  with  Mrs. 
Piper  with  the  cross  correspondences  coming  after  those 
sittings. 

A  piece  of  work  of  this  character  has  no  claim  to  serious 
consideration,  and  ultimately  must  injure  the  Society  which 
approves  it. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

Shortly  after  Mrs.  Piper  went  to  England,  in  1906,  the 
experimenters  drew  up  a  message  in  Latin  addressed  to  the 
Myers  control.  It  was  first  written  in  English,  and  then 
translated  into  Latin  by  Dr.  Verrall,  a  special  point  being 
made  of  avoiding  words  and  phrases  that  might  be  known 
to  some  one  but  slightly  acquainted  with  Latin.  This,  of 
course,  was  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper 
to  understand  it. 

(a)  Original  draft  in  English: 

We  are  aware  of  the  scheme  of  cross  correspondences,  which 
you  are  transmitting  through  various  mediums,  and  we  hope 
that  you  will  go  on  with  them. 

Try  also  to  give  to  A  and  B  two  different  messages,  between 
which  no  connection  is  discernible.  Then  as  soon  as  possible 
give  to  C  a  third  message  which  will  reveal  the  hidden  con- 
nection. 

(h)  Latin  rendering: 

Diversis  internuntiis  quod  invicem  inter  se  respondentia 
jamdudum  committis,  id  nee  fallit  nos  consilium,  et  vehe- 
menter  probamus. 

TJnum  accesserit  gratissimum  nobis,  si,  cum  duobus  quibus- 
dam  ea  tradideris,  inter  quae  nullus  appareat  nexus,  postea 
quam  primum  rem  per  tertium  aliquem  ita  perficias,  ut  lateng 
illud  in  prioribus  explicetur. 

(c)  Literal  translation  into  English: 

As  to  the  fact  that  for  some  long  time  past  you  have  been 
entrusting  to  different  intermediaries  things  which  correspond 
mutually  between  themselves,  we  have  observed  your  design 
and  we  cordially  approve  it. 

152 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

One  thing  besides  this  most  agreeable  to  us  will  have  hap- 
pened if,  when  you  shall  have  delivered  to  two  particular  per- 
sons things  between  which  no  connection  is  apparent,  afterward 
as  soon  as  possible  through  some  third  person  you  so  complete 
the  matter  that  that  which  was  latent  in  the  first  two  may  be 
revealed. 


This  experiment  extended  from  December  17,  1906,  to 
June  2,  1907.  On  the  former  date  Mr.  Piddington  broached 
the  subject  to  Rector  and  gave  the  first  phrase,  through 
"  committis, "  pronouncing  each  syllable  and  spelling  it, 
while  the  hand  wrote  it  down  with  the  punctuation.  The 
dictation  was  continued  through  four  more  sittings,  and 
completed  for  the  first  time  on  January  2d. 

At  this  time  Rector  said  that  Hodgson  was  helping 
Myers,  and  Myers  said  that  he  would  gladly  translate  the 
message,  to  which  Mr.  Piddington  replied  that  he  did  not 
want  a  translation,  but  a  message  which  would  show  that 
the  Latin  had  been  understood. 

January  2d,  when  the  message  was  completed,  on  com- 
ing out  of  the  trance  Mrs.  Piper  said,  "  United  we  stand, 
divided  we  fall."  This  came  just  after  a  sentence  which 
Mr.  Piddington  says  the  Myers  control  must  have  given, 
and  is  therefore  attributed  to  him,  and  interpreted  as  a 
reference  to  the  second  i:)aragraph,  as  showing  a  knowledge 
of  its  meaning. 

January  14th,  15th,  and  16th  there  were  only  references 
to  it,  and  on  the  last  date  Myers  said  that  Piddington  must 
not  be  impatient  for  an  answer. 

January  23d,  the  situation  was  complicated  by  the 
Myers  control  being  asked  which  of  Horace's  Odes  had  en- 
tered deeply  into  his  inner  life,  and  immediately  after  this 
he  called  for  a  repetition  of  the  first  and  second  sentences 
of  the  massage.  At  this  time  also  Myers  said  for  the  first 
time  that  he  believed  he  could  give  an  answer  to  the 
message. 

13  153 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

At  this  point  we  must  diverge  for  an  instant  to  note 
that  from  December  18th  to  January  30th  most  of  the  sit- 
tings with  Mrs.  Piper  were  held  by  either  Mrs.  or  Miss  Ver- 
rall,  Mr.  Piddington  having  only  January  2d,  16th,  23d, 
and  28th  to  himself,  but  being  present  at  all  the  others  as 
manager. 

January  23d  and  28th,  Mrs.  Verrall  wrote  two  scripts 
connected  with  each  other,  of  which  Mrs.  Piper's  script 
reproduced  the  main  points  on  February  17th  in  its  ref- 
erences to  hope,  star,  and  Browning.  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script 
of  January  23d  has  anagrams  on  rats,  star,  etc.,  seam,  same ; 
skeat  takes  Kate's  skates;  January  28th  come  references 
to  aster,  the  Greek  "  teras/^  meaning  a  sign  or  wonder, 
' '  Abt  Vogler  ' '  and  a  misquotation  from  it.  In  Miss  Ver- 
rall's  script  of  February  3d  are  references  to  a  crescent 
moon  and  star  and  bird ;  and  February  17th  a  drawing  of  a 
star,  and  references  to  diapason,  harmony,  and  mystic 
three. 

The  especial  reference  in  Mrs.  Verrall 's  script,  "  that 
out  of  three  sounds  he  make,  not  a  fourth  sound  but  a 
star,"  is  considered  a  very  apt  description  of  a  cross  cor- 
respondence with  the  three  automatists,  but  as  Mr.  Pid- 
dington himself  indicates,  it  is  quite  possible  that  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall 's  subconscioiLs  mind  worked  this  out.  I  would  add  fur- 
ther that  in  the  series  of  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  which 
was  nearly  at  an  end  by  January  23d,  her  mind,  her  daugh- 
ter's,  and  Mrs.  Piper's  had  been  so  attuned  that  the  later 
references  in  Mrs.  Piper's  script  to  hope,  star,  and  Brown- 
ing are  simply  a  working  over  of  some  common  material 
gathered  during  those  sittings.  Furthermore,  Mr.  Pid- 
dington says  frankly  that  in  the  period  between  Febru- 
ary 11th  and  February  19th  he  had  become  possessed  by 
the  idea  that  the  reference  by  the  Piper-Myers  on  Febru- 
ary 11th  to  hope,  star,  and  Browning  was  an  attempt  to 
give  an  answer  to  the  Latin  message,  and  it  is  therefore 
impossible  to  say  what  involuntary  and  unconscious  hints 

154 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

he  may  have  given  of  this  to  the  Piper-Myers.  He  was 
closely  on  the  watch  to  catch  such  connections,  as  he  him- 
self says. 

February  19th  part  of  the  message  was  repeated  again 
to  Myers,  and  February  20th  came  the  first  attempt  to 
translate  it,  as  follows :  ' '  The  idea  I  got  was  that  I  should 
be  a  Messenger  and  pass  on  to  you  the  same  intelligent  UD 
now  in  my  present  life-.  . .  It  is  wath  reference  to  my.  .my 
being  a  messenger.  .  and  my  handing  through  to  you  on 
your  side  coherent  and —  messages. ' ' 

The  divergence  between  this  and  the  message  is  evident. 
There  is  no  reference  here  to  cross  references  unless  we 
force  the  interpretation. 

We  should  also  note  here  Mrs.  Piper's  knowledge  of 
Browning. 

May  7th,  INIrs.  Sidgwick  made  inquiries  as  to  whether 
Mrs.  Piper  had  ever  read  any  of  Browning,  and  Mrs.  Piper 
told  her  that  "  probably  "  she  had  read  some,  and  that  one 
of  her  daughters  had  several  volumes  of  his  poems  and 
was  fond  of  them.  May  26th,  IMiss  Johnson  made  inquiries 
from  the  lady  who  lived  with  Mrs.  Piper  while  she  was  in 
London,  and  found  that  Mrs.  Piper  had,  probably  three  or 
four  weeks  before,  been  looking  over  one  of  the  volumes. 
But  we  are  not  told  whether  it  contained  "  Abt  Vogler," 
"  Evelyn  Hope,"  "  My  Star,"  "  La  Saisiaz,"  and  "  Rabbi 
Ben  Ezra."  These,  however,  are  all  poems  which  are  given 
in  most  of  the  popular  editions  of  Browning,  and,  further- 
more. Sir  Oliver  found  that  the  daughters  had  committed 
parts  of  "  Abt  Vogler  "  to  memory. 

Now,  since  Mrs.  Piper  had  these  volumes  of  Browning 
in  her  possession  all  the  time  she  was  in  England,  it  seems 
altogether  likely  that  she  read  parts  of  them  every  now  and 
then,  and  not  merely  on  the  one  occasion  that  Dr.  Reid 
happened  to  remember.  Her  familiarity  with  these  poems 
is  therefore  explained. 

On  February  25th  parts  of  the  Latin  were  again  re- 
155 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

peated,  and  also  on  February  26th  and  on  February  27th 
another  attempt  at  translation  was  made,  which,  sum- 
marised, is  thus :  ' '  Although  you  as  intermediary  have  long 
since  united  mutually  ideas.  You  have  or  do  not  reply 
or  respond  sufficiently  to  our  questions  as  to  convince  us  of 
your  existence  etc.  Is  it  not  UD?  "..But  here,  too,  the 
point  is  missed,  since  the  message  expresses  no  doubt  of 
Myers's  existence,  but  only  cordial  approval  of  his  cross- 
reference  scheme. 

Before  this  complete  attempt  came,  Myers  had  translated 
it  phrase  by  phrase  and  at  one  point  said,  ' '  Now  I  believe 
that  since  you  sent  this  message  to  me  I  have  sufficiently 
replied  to  your  various  questions  to  convince  the  ordinary 
scientific  mind  that  I  am  at  least  a  fragment  of  the  once 
incarnate  individual  whom  you  called  Myers.    Is  it  not  so  ?  " 

A  little  later  Mr.  Piddington  asked  him  in  what  mes- 
sages this  reply  was  given,  and  he  said  that  it  was  in  the 
messages  reported  through  Mrs.  Piper  and  Mrs.  Verrall. 
On  being  pressed  for  some  important  point  from  these  mes- 
sages, he  said  that  it  was  in  those  where  he  referred  to  * '  the 
poems,"  "  halceon  days,"  "  evangelical  "  and  "  syringa 
shrub."  Asked  what  poems,  he  said  his,  and  Browning's, 
and  Horace. 

None  of  these,  be  it  noted,  refer  to  the  thing  Piddington 
wanted,  namely,  hope,  star,  and  "  Abt  Vogler." 

But  later  in  the  same  sitting  Mr.  Piddington  said  to 
Myers : 

"  (I  want  to  say  that  you  have,  I  believe,  given  an 
answer  worthy  of  your  intelligence —  not  to  day,  I  mean, 
but  some  time  back — but  the  interpretation  must  not  be 
mine.    You  must  explain  your  answer  at  this  light.) 

"Yes. 

"  (You  could  do  it  in  two  words.) 

"  Yes.     I  UD. 

*'  (Well?) 

"  Hope.     Star. 

156 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

"  (WeU?     Yes?) 

"  Browning. 

"  (Exactly.    It  couldn't  be  better.) 

"  That  is  my  answer. 

"  (Now,  Myers,  I  can't  thank  you  enough.  That  is 
what  I  have  been  waiting  for.)  " 

Myers  then  showed  a  tendency  to  try  the  Latin  mes- 
sage again,  but  was  rather  discouraged  by  Mr.  Piddington, 
who  soon  after  told  him  that  he  would  like  one  more  point 
in  his  answer,  to  which  Myers  wrote : 

"  My  Star,"  and  then  made  various  attempts,  "  EV  E 
EVL  EVEL,"  at  which  point  he  w^as  stopped  by  Mr.  Pid- 
dington because  the  light  was  growing  weak. 

To  the  person  who  is  not  looking  for  spiritistic  inter- 
vention, this  answer  seems  explicable  from  a  naturalistic 
point  of  view.  As  we  have  already  noted  it  is  probable 
that  in  the  series  of  sittings  with  Mrs.  Verrall  the  common 
material  of  hope,  star.  Browning,  and  "  Abt  Vogler  "  had 
been  unconsciously  given  and  emphasised  by  Mrs.  Verrall 
to  Mrs.  Piper's  control,  and  that  after  Mr.  Piddington  had 
formed  his  theory  he  had  unconsciously  betrayed  to  the 
control  that  all  references  to  Browning  were  especially 
interesting  to  him,  so  that  M'hen,  on  February  27th,  he  told 
the  control  that  he  had  already  given  an  intelligent  answer, 
but  he  wanted  him  himself  to  indicate  what  it  was,  the 
control  would  revert  to  the  one  in  which  Mr,  Piddington 
had  shown  the  most  interest  before,  which  would  naturally 
impress  itself  most  upon  the  control  when  given,  owing  to 
the  control's  great  suggestibility.  In  this  he  was  aided  by 
Mr.  Piddington 's  remark  that  two  words  would  give  the 
answer.  That  he  did  not  at  all  understand  why  "  hope, 
star  and  Browning  "  was  an  answer  to  the  Latin  message 
seems  to  be  shown  by  the  reference  immediately  afterward 
to  ''  My  Star  "  and  "  Evel,"  which  may  have  been  the 
beginning  of  "  Evelyn  Hope." 

On  March  6th  the  Pelham  control  appeared  and  asked 
157 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Mr.  Piddington  if  he  had  got  what  he  wanted  about  the 
Latin  message.    Mi-.  Piddington  replied : 

"  (I  think  the  answer  is  clear,  but  I  want — ) 

"  Did  he  [i.  e.  Myers.]  tell  you  about  My  Star?  " 

Pelham  then  goes  on  to  say  that  this  and  "  Evelyn 
Hope  "  were  tests  with  Mrs.  Verrall. 

Pelham  also  translated  the  Latin  message  thus:  "  Al- 
though you  have  for  some  time  been  uniting  (or  assimilat- 
ing) different  ideas  you  fail  to  convince  the  world  or  me  of 
your  independent  existence.  Now  if  you  can  give  a  clear 
message  through  Mrs.  Yerrall  and  reproduce  it  here  it  will 
do  more  to  convince.  .  or  it  will,  .greatly  help  to  convince 
the  world  of  your  continued  existence."  "  This  was  the 
idea  as  I  received  it,"  says  Pelham.  "  You  must  give 
allowances,  for  its  being  made  comprehensible  here.  .  to 
you. ' ' 

Mr.  Piddington  then  explains  at  considerable  length 
that  to  make  the  answer  perfectly  complete  and  satis- 
factory one  more  point  miist  be  brought  out,  and  that 
this  same  point  has  already  been  very  clearly  made  by 
Myers  himself  through  Mrs.  Verrall,  but  not  through  Mrs. 
Piper. 

Pelham  said  that  he  would  explain  the  situation  to 
Myers,  i.  e.,  would  tell  him  that  he  must  bring  out  the  same 
point  through  Mrs.  Piper  as  he  already  had  through  Mrs. 
Verrall,  and  presently  Myers  himself  appeared  and  after 
one  sentence  Rector  tries  to  explain  in  these  words:  "  I 
UD.  it  was  a  cross  correspondence  message  and  to  her 
(i.  e.  Mrs.  Verrall.)  I  gave  the  same  words  that  I  brought 
out  here,  as  the  poem  was  one  I  knew  him  (presumably 
Myers)  to  give  me." 

This  was  not  clear  and  Myers  again  appears  and  says, 
"  I  told  Rector  to  tell  you  that  I  UD  and  replied  saying 
it  was  the  poem  in  which  Hope  and  Star  came  out." 

On  March  13th  Myers  says,  "  I  UD  your  reference  to 
the  poem  in  your  Latin  message  to  me  which  led  me  to 

158 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

refer  to  Browning  .  . . , "  showing  again  that  he  did  not 
understand  why  the  reference  to  Hope,  star,  and  Brown- 
ing was  considered  an  answer,  and  that  he  thought  the 
Latin  contained  a  reference  to  the  poem. 

A  little  later  Mr.  Piddington  begins,  "  The  Latin  Mes- 
sage does  not  refer — "  and  the  hand  quickly  corrects  it- 
self, saying,  "  not  exactly  to  a  poem  I  know,  but  it  sug- 
gested a  poem  to  my  mind.     Hence  BHS  etc. ' ' 

Later  in  the  same  sitting  Mr.  Piddington  once  more  ex- 
plains to  the  ]\Iyers  control  that  Hope,  Star,  and  Brown- 
ing are  an  excellent  answer  to  the  message,  but  that  he  has 
not  yet  told  through  Mrs.  Piper  why  they  are.  Then,  in 
answer  to  questions  from  Myers,  Mr.  Piddington  tells  him 
that  a  particular  poem  and  a  particular  passage  in  that 
poem  give  the  answer,  and  JMyers  already  knows  that  one 
of  Browning's  poems  with  a  reference  to  hope  and  star  is 
wanted. 

At  this  point  Mrs.  Sidgwick  took  charge  of  the  sittings. 

Myers  had  now  been  well  coached  in  his  cues,  so  that 
on  April  2d  he  started  out  with  various  references  to 
Browning,  hope,  stars,  but  gave  nothing  more.  April  2d, 
Mrs.  Sidgwick  read  him  this  question: 

"  Mr.  Piddington  says  you  promised  to  try  to  tell  us 
what  particular  poem  of  Browning's  you  meant  to  refer 
to  by  the  words  *  Browning,  Hope  and  Star.'  " 

To  this  ]\Iyers  replies  as  usual  that  he  will  be  glad  to 
think  it  over  and  answer  later.  April  8th,  Myers  brings  up 
the  subject  again,  and  says  that  the  poem  he  had  in  mind 
is  the  one  about  the  stars,  the  lonely,  lonely  wandering 
stars,  and  the  message  made  him  think  of  it  because  it  re- 
minded him  of  his  interest  in  "  light  "  and  his  desire  to 
prove  the  survival  of  bodily  death.  Then  he  says  that  the 
poem  began  with  P  and  Sai,  and  then  comes  much  maun- 
dering about  his  making  a  circle,  star,  etc. 

April  10th  and  15th  come  casual  or  confused  refer- 
ences,   and    April    17th   more    references   to    lonely,    also 

159 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

**  Siazies,  Siacriez,"  and  finally  Mrs.  Sidgwick  suggests 
"  La  Saisiaz, "  which  the  hand  accepts. 

Then  come  imperfect  efforts  to  reproduce  parts  of  the 
Latin  message,  and  a  little  later  Myers  clearly  and  explic- 
itly connects  hope  and  star  with  "  La  Saisiaz  " — not  with 
"  Abt  Vogler." 

In  answer  to  this  connection  Mrs.  Sidgwick  made  a  re- 
mark as  to  which  she  says,  "  It  now  seems  to  me  obvious 
that  I  meant  I  did  not  know  that  Hope  and  Star  referred 
to  La  Saisiaz, ' '  and  Myers  goes  on  to  say  that  the  passage 
he  meant  contained  three  words  and  horizon  was  the  most 
important  one  of  them. 

A  little  later  Mrs.  Sidgwick  asked,  ' '  Did  you,  when  you 
spoke  a  little  while  ago,  mean  to  say  you  had  given  me  the 
name  of  the  poem  in  which  Hope  and  Star  come?  "  and 
she  notes  that  she  thinks  she  mentioned  ' '  La  Saisiaz  ' '  here. 
But  the  control  had  been  warned  by  the  above  remark, 
and  answered,  "  No,  I  have  not  been  able  to  get  it  through, 
but  I  do  hope  to  do  so. ' ' 

April  24th,  he  tried  another  tack,  giving  reminiscences 
from  '  *  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra, ' '  but  as  Mrs.  Sidgwick  said  she  did 
not  remember  that  they  appeared  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script 
the  control  was  once  more  corrected,  and  started  over  again 
by  drawing  a  star,  and  then  writing  "  Vol  "  and  a  little 
below  ' '  gar. ' '  Of  course  Mrs.  Sidgwick  at  once  thought  of 
"  Vogler,"  and  told  him  that  she  thought  she  saw  what  he 
meant.  Thus  encouraged,  the  hand  continued  trjnng,  pro- 
ducing after  a  little  "  AB,"  and  below  it  "  Volugevar," 
to  which  Mrs.  Sidgwick  responded,  "  You're  very  nearly 
got  it."  Then  a  little  lower  he  finally  got  "  Volugur," 
and  below  it  "  ABT,"  to  which  Mrs.  Sidgwick  said  that 
she  was  quite  satisfied.  A  little  later  the  hand  asked  how 
she  pronounced  "  Abt,"  and  she  spoke  it;  then  it  wrote 
"  VO,"  and  inquired,  and  she  finished  it,  "  Vogler." 

Now,  even  if  it  were  possible  for  one  not  to  see  that 
this  came  entirely  through  the  ingenious  guessing  of  the 

160 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

control,  he  went  on  to  show  that  he  still  did  not  understand 
what  passage  answered  the  Latin  message,  by  saying,  * '  Let 
me  first  remind  you  how  deeply  I  was  affected  by  the 
message  and  how  the  uncertainty  of  Abt  gave  me  the  words 
I  wrote  and  the  . .  .  faith  which  he  held  gave  my 
brought  to  my  memory  the  experience  I  have  had  myself 
sufficiently  clear  for  me  to  quote  it  to  you." 

Rector  then  said  that  he  had  left  out  some  words,  and 
Myers  told  Mrs.  Sidgwick  to  look  up  the  passage  about 
Abt's  faith,  and  said,  "  I  am  trying  to  explain  to  you 
his  doubts  and  fears,  then  his  acceptance  of  God  and  faith 
in  Him." 

A  little  later  Mrs.  Sidgwick  asked: 

' '  I  should  like  you,  I\Ir.  Myers,  to  say  exactly  why  that 
poem  was  so  appropriate  as  an  answer  to  the  Latin  Mes- 
sage, ' '  to  which  he  replied : 

"  I  chose  that  because  of  the  appropriate  conditions 
mentioned  in  it  which  applied  to  my  own  life,  and  nothing 
I  could  think  of  so  completely  answered  it  to  my  mind  as 
those  special  words. ' ' 

Now  the  Latin  message,  of  course,  did  not  refer  to  any 
particular  events  in  Myers's  life,  and  only  by  torturing 
this  passage  far  out  of  its  evident  meaning  could  it  be  made 
to  show  anything  but  his  ignorance  of  the  message. 

May  1st — two  sittings  having  intervened,  at  which  Mrs. 
Verrall  and  Miss  Johnson  were  sitters,  and  at  approxi- 
mately the  time  when  Dr.  Reid  is  certain  that  Mrs.  Piper 
had  had  a  volume  of  Browning  to  read — at  another  sitting 
with  Mrs.  Sidgwick  the  Myers  control  again  reverted  to 
the  poem,  and  after  various  phrases  reminiscent  of  "  Abt 
Vogler, ' '  Mrs.  Sidgwick  said,  "  It  is  about  Abt  Vogler  he  is 
telling  me,  is  it  not  ?  ' ' 

May  6th,  after  Myers  had  said  that  he  had  already  really 
answered  the  message,  Mrs.  Sidgwick  replied,  ' '  But  in  Abt 
Vogler  there  is  a  particular  line  which  specially  answers 
the  Latin  Message.     The  Latin  ]\Iessage,  as  you  know,  re- 

161 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

fers  to  cross  correspondences,  but  also  to  something  more, 
and  there  is  a  line  in  Abt  Vogler  which  we  think  you  had 
in  mind  as  describing  that  something  more.  It  would  be 
very  good  if  you  could  give  it  here." 

Myers  reiterated,  "  line,  poem  and  Abt  Vogler,"  to  be 
sure  he  understood  the  task  she  had  set,  and  said,  ''I  re- 
member the  message  as  referring  to  my  giving  proofs  of 
survival  of  bodily  death  by  or  through  CC  (cross  corre- 
spondence messages)." 

"  Yes,  hi  a  particular  way/^  replied  Mrs.  Sidgwick. 

Thus  put  on  his  guard  Myers  began  his  usual  processes 
of  fishing,  saying,  "  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  Tennyson 
in  one  of  the  inquiries  and  Browning  in  the  other." 

This  met  hearty  approval,  and  he  went  on  to  refer  to 
music,  and  told  her  repeatedly  that  she  must  patch  things 
together  so  they  would  make  sense. 

May  7th  came  the  first  plain  reference  to  the  desired 
line,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  sitting.  Myers  asked, 
"  If  the  fourth  is  a  star,  what  would  the  third  be?  " 
*  *  Fourth  ' '  and  ' '  star  ' '  were  reiterated  in  various  connec- 
tions, and  then  came  "  framed,  passion,  to  sky,"  evidently 
reminiscences  of  the  line  "  As  the  earth  had  done  her  best 
in  my  passion  to  scale  the  sky. ' ' 

Then  Mrs.  Sidgwick  said,  "  If  you  are  trying  to  give 
me  the  line  in  Abt  Vogler  which  I  asked  for,  you  need  not 
trouble  further, ' '  and  Myers  replied : 

' '  That  is  it.    I  promised  to  complete  it  this  day. 

"  (Yes,  it  is  all  right.  I  wanted  to  know  if  you  were 
thinking  of  this  line  when  you  quoted  Abt  Vogler  as  an 
answer.) 

' '  Oh  yes.  that  is  all  I  am  thinking  about .... 

"  (Yes,  I  think  I  understand  it  quite  sufficiently.) 

' '  Passion  is  the  chief  word  . .  " 

And  a  little  below,  Mrs.  Sidgwick  said : 

**  (But  the  line  /  wanted  was  the  one  about  the  star.) 

**  Yes,  I  know,  but.  . .  "  replied  the  control,  of  course 
162 


THE    LATIN    ]MP:SSAGE 

getting  out  of  his  mistake  as  gracefully  as  possible,  and 
rambling  on  about  the  star. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  at  all  that  the  control  had  no 
understanding  of  what  was  wanted,  for  even  when  his 
choices  from  "  Abt  Vogler  "  were  narrowed  to  the  desired 
line  and  one  other,  he  took  the  wrong  one,  and  showed  un- 
mistakably that  he  misunderstood  by  saying  that  passion 
was  the  chief  word. 

May  27th,  when  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  was  the  sitter,  came 
another  attempt  to  translate  the  Latin,  thus:  "  You  have 
long  since  been  trying  to  assimilate  ideas,  but  I  wish  you  to 
give  through  Mrs.  Verrall  proof  such  proof  of  the  survival 
of  bodily  death  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  in  such  a  prove 
conclusively  conclusively  the  survival  of  bodily  death." 

Then  came  various  Latin  words  from  the  message,  and 
Myers  said:  "  From  the  last  sentence  I  got  instead  of  a 
fourth  sound  came  a  star.  It  was  the  last  sentence  in  Latin 
which  suggested  it  to  my  mind."  Evidently,  in  the  inter- 
val from  May  8th  to  27th,  the  subconscious  mind  had  put 
together  the  oft-repeated  words  from  various  sittings  that 
the  last  sentence  contained  something  about  particular  kinds 
of  correspondences,  with  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  information  that 
this  line  was  the  one  desired.  And  by  June  2d  the  control 
had  worked  this  out  sufficiently  to  explain  it  to  Sir  Oliver, 
when  he  asked  Myers  to  tell  him  more  about  the  Latin 
message,  thus : 

"  Oh  yes,  he  [Piddington]  said  also  if  you  will  give  me 
a  message,  not  a  message  really  but  a  sign  of  some  kind 
through  the  lights  corresponding  message  which  I  cannot 
mistake  I  shall  consider  it  the  greatest  proof  of  your  sur- 
vival of  bodily  death.  Hence  my  reason  for  drawing  a 
star,  I  believe  I  have  given  you  a  comparatively  full  or 
complete  reply."  The  message  in  Latin  was  this:  "  For  a 
long  time  you  have  been  assimilating  ideas  one  with  another 
through  different  lights,  but  what  is  most  important  of  all 
if  to  prove  the  survival  of  bodily  death  is  for  you  to  give 

163 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

in  a  a  certain  way  a  sign  long  But  what  I  want  but  what 
we  want  is  for  you  to  give  us  proof  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  your  proof  conclusive.   . 

"  I  wish  you  would  follow  me  now  for  a  moment. 

''  (Quite  right.) 

"  Remember  when  Piddington  gave  me  his  message  the 
special  point  in  it  was  for  me  to  give  definite  proof  through 
both  lights.  The  first  thought  I  had  was  to  repeat  a  few 
words  or  lines  of  Browning's  poem,  but  in  order  to  make 
it  still  more  definite  I  registered  a  star  and  the  lines  which 
I  quoted  to  you  before  .  . .  were  the  most  appropriate  I 
could  find.  I  believe  you  will  understand  this  to  be  conclu- 
sive that  I  fully  understand  and  have  fairly  well  translated 
his  message." 

Thus  ended  the  attempt  to  translate  the  Latin  message. 
How  far  this  attempt  shows  that  the  control  is  a  classical 
scholar,  as  Myers  was,  readers  are,  I  think,  in  a  fair  posi- 
tion to  judge  for  themselves.  To  me  there  seems  to  be 
nothing  whatever  either  in  the  translation  of  the  Latin  or  in 
the  reference  to  the  line  from  "  Abt  Vogler  "  as  an  answer 
to  it,  that  is  not  clearly  explicable  on  the  assumption 
that  the  control  fished,  guessed,  and  inferred,  getting  his 
data  from  Mrs.  Piper's  own  knowledge,  from  his  sitters, 
and  especially  from  Mrs.  and  Miss  Verrall.  I  can  see  no 
evidence  whatever  of  any  supernormal  knowledge,  either 
from  the  other  world  or,  through  telepathy,  from  this.  Mr. 
Piddington  himself  admits  (p.  409)  that  in  some  cases  Mrs. 
Piper's  own  memory  supplied  what  the  control  wrote,  and 
that  he  gave  some  entirely  wrong  guesses  to  the  problem. 
Why  he  does  not  carry  through  the  possibilities  involved 
in  this  admission  it  is  hard  to  see,  for  he  quotes  the  facts 
referred  to  previously,  that  Mrs.  Piper  had  on  hand  some 
of  Bro\\Tiing's  poems  and  had  been  reading  them  more  or 
less,  and  yet  he  says  that  the  control  displayed  greater 
knowledge  of  Browning  than  he  thinks  Mrs.  Piper  has. 
He  also  says  (p.  408)  that  the  control  told,  "  without  any 

164 


THE    LATIN    MESSAGE 

beating  about  the  bush, ' '  what  line  in  ' '  Abt  Vogler  ' '  would 
be  an  answer  to  the  Latin  message,  and  yet  we  have  seen 
very  clearly  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  control  did  not  tell 
at  all,  but  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick  told  the  control.  Such  an 
error  seems  to  me  too  grave  to  be  passed  without  comment, 
for  it  gives  a  feeling  of  confidence  in  the  control's  knowl- 
edge that  is  quite  unwarranted  by  the  facts  of  the  case. 


CHAPTER    X 

SITTINGS    WITH   MRS.    PIPER:    FIRST    SITTING 

In  the  following  chapters  is  given  an  account  of  the 
sittings  which  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  and  myself  had  with 
Mrs.  Piper  in  the  spring  of  1909.  Dr.  Hall  was  the  inter- 
locutor and  myself  the  note-taker.  Mr.  G.  B.  Dorr  was 
present  at  the  first  ones,  but  after  we  learned  how  to  man- 
age conditions  he  no  longer  came. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  get  the  exact  words  of  the 
sitters  because  we  believed  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
get  everything  unless  we  had  two  stenographers,  and  we 
could  not  arrange  to  have  even  one.  Our  tests,  accordingly, 
were  planned  so  as  to  be  independent  of  the  exact  words 
used,  and  even  of  the  exact  order  of  events  in  each  sit- 
ting. Before  each  sitting  we  planned  carefully  the  tests 
which  we  wished  to  make,  writing  out  rather  full  notes 
and  questions  which  Dr.  Hall  followed  carefully  during 
the  sitting,  and  which  I  checked  up  with  the  writing  of  the 
control  during  the  sitting,  writing  out  additional  notes  at 
the  time  and  directly  afterward,  either  the  same  night  or 
the  next  morning. 

I  read  the  handwriting  as  the  control  wrote,  and  had 
little  difficulty  after  the  first  sitting,  contrary  to  what  seems 
to  be  the  usual  experience.  This  I  consider  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  our  chief  aim  was  to  understand  as  we  went 
along  what  the  control  was  trying  to  do,  that  we  kept  our 
voices  deliberate  and  slow,  and  asked  for  repetitions  of 
what  we  could  not  read,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Throughout  the  sittings  Dr.  Hall  is  the  speaker,  unless 
it  is  otherwise  indicated,  his  words  being  in  parentheses. 

166 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Brackets  indicate  our  own  comments.  Blank  spaces  indi- 
cate illegible  words. 

Mr.  G.  B.  Dorr  met  us  at  the  station  and,  as  we  walked 
over  to  Mrs.  Piper's  apartment,  explained  various  things 
to  us  about  the  management  of  the  sittings.  When  we  went 
in  we  were  first  introduced  to  Mrs.  Piper's  daughters,  that 
they  might  know  us  in  case  we  ever  should  come  without 
Mr.  Dorr,  and  then  we  were  introduced  to  Mrs.  Piper  her- 
self and  taken  to  another  room  where  the  sitting  was  to 
be  held.  Here  Mrs.  Piper  sat  down  in  a  large  chair  be- 
fore a  table  with  some  pillows  on  it,  and  we  had  some  desul- 
tory conversation.  Dr.  Hall  introduced  himself  under  his 
own  name,  and  after  a  little  she  asked  if  he  were  Stanley 
Hall,  and  seemed  somewhat  impressed  by  his  visiting  her. 
He  told  her  that  he  had  once  sat  with  her  years  before,  and 
had  tried  to  arrange  with  Dr.  Hodgson  for  a  series  of  sit- 
tings but  had  not  succeeded.  There  was  no  attempt  to 
conceal  identity  because  we  were  convinced  that  if  Dr. 
Hall  had  given  an  assumed  name  and  the  control  had  told 
his  real  one,  we  should  only  have  believed  that  either  the 
control  or  the  waking  Mrs.  Piper  had  recognised  him. 

After  a  few  minutes  of  conversation  Mrs.  Piper's  eye- 
lids began  to  droop ;  then  a  fixed  stare  came,  growing  more 
fixed  until  the  eyes  closed.  Her  face  worked  convulsively, 
her  breathing  became  laboured,  and  her  hands  worked 
slightly.  They  were  lying  on  the  cushions  in  front  of  her, 
almost  on  a  level  with  her  head.  Then  her  head  sank  on 
the  pillows,  with  her  nose  almost  buried  in  them;  the 
breathing  became  snoring,  and  Mr.  Dorr  raised  her  head 
and  placed  it  so  that  she  could  breathe  freely.  This  la- 
boured, snore-like  breathing  continued  through  the  seance. 
The  face  became  quiet,  and  the  right  hand  began  to  grope 
for  a  pencil. 

Mrs.  Piper's  head  was  turned  toward  the  left.  At  her 
right  was  placed  a  low  table  with  writing  pads  and  pencils 
on  it.     The  sitter  sits  at  this  table  and  beside  ]\Irs.  Piper, 

167 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

so  that  he  can  read  the  writing.  Dr.  Hall  occupied  this 
place,  I  was  at  his  right,  and  Mr.  Dorr  most  of  the  time 
knelt  between  him  and  Mrs.  Piper  deciphering  the  words 
which  Dr.  Hall  could  not  make  out.  Throughout  the  ses- 
sion there  was  considerable  desultory  conversation  among 
the  three  of  us,  but  as  there  was  nothing  evidential  in  the 
sitting  this  probably  makes  no  important  difference  in  the 
value  of  the  report.  I  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  get 
anywhere  near  all  that  is  said,  and  doubt  if  even  a  stenog- 
rapher could  do  so. 

Mrs.  Piper  began  to  write  at  about  10.50  (the  exact  time 
was  unfortunately  not  noted),  and  at  this  time  her  pulse 
as  taken  by  Dr.  Hall  was  84. 

[Presently  the  hand  groped  for  the  pencil,  and  began  to 
write.] 

HAIL.    We  greet  you  friends  all  with  peace  and  joy.     (R.) 

Do  not  place  clouds  over  my  vision.     (R.) 

I  wish  you  would  speak  to  me.  I  am  Rector,  servant  of 
God.    I  am  here  to  greet  you  to-day. 

Tell  Helen  I  am  better  off  as  I  am  if  she  can 

UD  my  meaning. 

Speak  to  me.  Yes.  Myers  greets  you  and  says  he  was  very 
much  interested  in  voice,     Dydeis.     Ovid.     Be  within  call. 

(Rector,  is  Dr.  Hodgson  within  reach?)      [Dorr.] 

Yes. 

(Will  you  tell  him  Dr.  Stanley  Hall  is  here,  and  see  if  he 
can't  come  and  conduct  the  sitting  on  your  side?)     [Dorr.] 

Yes.  Came  this  minute.  We  UD  better  now.  We  UD 
better. 

[Here  the  handwriting  became  very  heavy,  marking  Hodg- 
son's advent.] 

Hello!     I  am  Hodgson.    Who  are  you? 

(Stanley  Hall.) 

Stanley  whom?     Stanley  whom? 

[Dr.  Hall  gives  it  again,  and  asks  something  about  whether 
Hodgson  remembered  the  plans  they  had  made  just  before  hia 
death  for  sittings  and  investigations.] 

168 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Of  course  I  do.    Were  you  just  You  never 

could  read  my  writing.     See  if  it  is  better  now. 

(Oh,  yes,  it's  better  than  mine  now.) 

Capital. 

How  are  ....  I  should  say  so.  How  is  everything  with 
you?     First  rate? 

(Yes.  Mr.  Dorr,  you  see,  has  given  me  the  sitting  which 
you  wouldn't  let  me  have.) 

Glad  of  it.     I  am  right  glad  of  it.     Delighted  to  see  you. 
Hurry  up?     Tell  me  about  the  problems  of  life. 
Have  you  solved  any  of  them  yet? 

(I  have  solved  one  very  important  one —  the  Watseka  Won- 
der that  you  investigated.) 

Glad  I  am  you  are 

(She  proved  not  to  be  genuine.  Her  motive  was  that  boy 
she  wanted  to  meet.) 

I  told  you  so.  I  told  you  so.  I  had  my  doubts,  had  my 
doubts.  I  remember  well.  Capital.  I  am  glad  you  UD.  I  am 
in  the  myself  old  keep  at  it  and 

I  will  help.     Hello  George,   [to  Mr.  Dorr.] 

[Mr.  Dorr  asks  if  he  shall  leave,  and  Hodgson  says,] 

Never  mind.  I  will  go  on.  Tell  me  about  yourself  as  our 
life  here  is  too  short  not  to  get  at  something  definite. 

(I  have  just  seen  Mrs.  Tingley  at  Point  Loma.  She  is  very 
glad  you  exposed  Madam  Blavatsky.) 

Amen.     I  thought  she  would  be  if  she  ever  got  her  senses. 

(I  was  much  surprised.  I  thought  she  would  be  a  bitter 
enemy  of  yours,  but  she's  your  friend.) 

I  have  a  letter  saying  she  didn't  care  for  me  but 
I  care  for  I  know  and  UD  all.  their  tricks.     Do  you  remember 
[undecipherable  and  repetition  called  for]   Wolcott? 

(Yes,  very  well  indeed.    He  died  about  three  years  ago.) 

He  is  here. 

(Ask  him  what  he  has  to  say  to  me.) 

He  is  perfectly  dumfounded  at  seeing  you  here,  but  says  he 
is  glad  George.    Give  me  my  influence  if  you 

can.     It  will  help  to  keep  my  thoughts  clear. 

[Mr.  Dorr  leaves  the  room  and  presently  comes  back  with 
a  black  sweater  formerly  worn  by  Hodgson.     This  is  placed  in 

14  169 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  right  hand,  which  feels  it  for  a  minute  and  does  so  at  in- 
tervals later.] 

I  am  really  glad  to  see,  really  glad  to  see  you  again  and 
so  is  Wolcott. 

(Has  he  any  message  for  his  wife?  She's  just  gone  to 
Europe.) 

Yes.     Tell  her  if  any  from  this  side.     He 

has  helped  her.  Sends  his  love  to  all.  [undecipherable]  all. 
Sends  kindest  remembrances  to  you.  He  says  you  helped  him 
greatly  in  one  way  [undecipherable  word]  but  your  life  seemed 
pretty  full  most  of  the  time.  Tell  me  about  philosophy  and 
your  in  belief  in  it.     [Heavy  long  dash  here.] 

Philosophy.  Any  ideas  of  to  advance  about  reincarnation  or 
any  other  nonsense. 

(I  think  the  subconscious  is  everywhere  coming  to  the  fore 
now.     That's  the  main  thing.) 

Science. 

(Yes,  a  new  science  every  way.  You  would  be  interested 
to  know  what  has  been  done  in  the  last  two  years.) 

Splendid.     [Heavy  dash.     Clutches  the  sweater.]  and 

if  the  subconscious  and  is  all  more  want 

to  prove  it  and  wants  to  prove  it  also,  from 

But  if  I  know  I  am  he.     I  am  not  playing 

tricks  either.     I  did  enough  of  that  over  there,  over  there. 

[To  Mr.  Dorr.]  Hello,  are  you  still  there?  Tell  me  about 
the  [undecipherable]   advance  regarding  subconscious. 

(I  think  everyone  is  coming  to  think  that's  the  main  thing, 
in  disease,  and  so  on.  It  is  nine-tenths  of  all  the  mind  we 
have.) 

Amen.  [Very  heavily  written  and  underscored.]  What 
passes  in  the  normal  certainly  is  registered  upon  registered  on 
subconscious  and  we  in  turn  on  our  side  act  directly  upon 
it  also. 

(Tell  me,  what  do  you  think  of  Podmore's  new  work?  He's 
getting  rather  sceptical  about  some  things.) 

I  think  as  I  have  always  thought.  He  is  too  conceited  to 
handle  a  subject  successfully.     Conceited. 

(Do  you  think  Davis  is  right?  He's  been  saying  some  sav- 
age things  about  you.) 

170 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Davis  means  well  and  I  have  more  respect  for  him,  but 
Podmore  is  hopelessly  conceited,  hopelessly.    Hop.  .  . 

he  doesn't  count  for  much. 

(Have  you  followed  what  Abbott  has  done  with  Mrs.  Blake, 
or  anything  else  of  his  work  out  west?) 

Yes,  more  or  less.  I  do  not  favour  it  much,  neither  do  I 
favour  her  in  the  least. 

(Do  you  favour  Hyslop's  recent  work?) 

Fairly  well.  He  is  conscien,  conscien,  conscientious  c-o-n- 
s-c-i-e-n-t-i-o-u-s  and  well  meaning  also  but  a  little  too  credu- 
lous for  his  own  good.     I  must  pull  him  up  a  little. 

(I  hope  you'll  do  that.  Have  you  followed  what  James  has 
been  saying  lately  about  other  things?) 

Yes.  I  do  not  like  the  idea  however  of  his  giving  the  im- 
pression that  I  said  that  ring  was  stolen.  I  did  ...  I  don't 
like  the  idea  of  his  giving  the  impression  that  I  said  that  ring 
was  Ring  was  stolen.     I  never,  never  dreamed  of  say- 

ing such  a  thing.    I  saw  it  my  pocket  in  my 

that's  However,  we  won't  discuss  that. 

[Mr.  Dorr  said  at  this  point  that  two  days  before  this  he 
and  James  had  been  looking  over  some  proof  of  sittings  in  .■■ 

which  this  matter  was  discussed,  and  that  Mrs.  Piper  could 
not  have  known  about  it.  Mr.  Dorr  also  reminded  Hodgson 
that  this  matter  was  not  one  in  which  Dr.  Hall  was  interested 
and  was  not  to  the  point,  to  which  Mr.  Hodgson  retorted,] 
Read  my  last  words  once  more,  but  I  am  pleased  on  the  whole 
over  what  James  has  been  doing. 

(Do  you  like  the  criticism  of  all  that  sort  of  thing  from 
Witmer  and  the  Philadelphia  people?) 

Yes,  I  don't  mind  him  in  the  slightest. 

(Yes,  but  they  are  having  great  influence  I  am  afraid.) 

They  do  not  count.     Very  temporary,  as  truth  will 

(Could  you  find  two  people  for  me,  either  Mr.  Clark  or  my 
niece,  Bessie  Beals?) 

One  or  both.     Has  your  niece  got  a  mother  there? 

(No,  her  mother's  here.) 

No,  I  mean  in  the  body  there.  I  know  her.  I  think  I  know 
I  have  heard  her  speak  about  her  mother  there  and  say  she 

171 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

wished  she  I  could  prove  that  she  was  living  to  her. 

I  think  I  saw  her.     Did  she  not  have  a  sister? 

(No,  no  sister.) 

Who  came  here  in  infancy? 

(I  think  not.) 

Yes,  she  did.  Hardly  lived.  Scarcely  lived  at  all  in  the 
body.    I'll  tell  you  about  her  if  I  see  you  again.     I'll 

(I  wish  you  could  tell  me  something  that  happened  between 
us,  our  plans,  etc.,  just  before  you  died.) 

All  right,  I  will.     I  will  certainly  later,  later  I 

will  see  and  have  a  talk  with  her. 

(Do  you  think  you  could  ever  find  Mr.  Clark?) 

I  have  no  doubt  about  it.    I'U  Do  you  re- 

member Hackley,  Hackley 

(Hackley?  .  ,  .  No,  I  don't  just  now.) 

I  found  him  recently. 

(Wait  a  moment  .  .  .  Wliat's  that  man's  name?  Oh,  what 
was  that  fellow's  name?) 

I  wanted  to  speak  about  that  letter  you  wrote  me  on  the 
society,  and  your  indifferent  attitude  until  they  were  published. 

(Can  you  tell  me  something  about  that?) 

Yes.     I  was  much  annoyed  with  you  at  the  time  but  I  see 
you  meant  well  better  now.     Annoyed,  annoyed, 
you  knew  so  little  about  it.     As  I  remember,  I  told  you  it  was 
useless  to  try  to  down  a  subject  of  which  a  man 
knew  little  or  nothing. 

(That's  very  apropos  indeed.  That's  the  most  characteristic 
yet.     I  can't  think  of  any  Hackley  though.) 

[Dr.  Hall  here  noted  on  the  paper  that  Mr.  Clark  was  speak- 
ing, which  led  to  the  question  from  me,  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion Mr.  Dorr  asked  who  was  writing.  The  hand  meantime 
had  been  writing  and  gave  the  following,] 

I  K.  H. 

[Which  came  as  the  answer  to  who  was  writing.] 

(Good.  I  thought  it  was  Mr.  Clark.  I'll  have  to  read  it 
all  over  again.) 

Can't  you  I  understand  my  point  a 

little  better.     Do  you  remember  my  old  argument  with  you 
about  this. 

172 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(Yes,  I  remember  he  said  that  a  great  many  times.) 

I  am  looking  for  him.  Here  is  Clark.  Hnrry  up,  hurry 
up  while  light  lasts,  while  light  lasts,  while  light  lasts. 

(Yes.) 

[Mr.  Clark  speaks.] 

Do  you  remember  my  saying  you  didn't  HD  the 

subject?     Do  please  answer  as  quickly  as  you  can.     I  am  de- 
lighted to  meet  you  again. 

(I  think  we  should  agree  very  much  better  on  all  those 
topics  now.) 

Indeed  so  do  I.  Indeed.  You  were  rather  prejudiced  and 
very  positive,  rather  over  prejudiced  and  positive,  but  if  you 
have  at  last  caught  my  ideas,  it  is  a  comfort  to  hear  you  say  so. 

(Haven't  you  come  to  my  ideas,  too,  in  some  things?) 

Of  course,  true,  I  admit  it,  I  have.  I  admit  it  I  admit  it. 
You  had  some  excellent  ideas  and  I  didn't  wish  to  advance 
them,  but  on  the  whole  you  were  prejudiced 

(Are  you  with  Mrs.  Clark  where  you  are  now?) 

What  a  question!  What  would  you  naturally  suppose?  I 
have  been  trying  to  find  you  for  ages,  but  where  you  tried  to 
find  light  there  seemed  so  little  it  was  scarcely  worth  while. 
[Feeling  face.]  Those  sounds  were  all  around  and  made  me 
feel  like  leaving.  Do  you  ...  I  see  you  trying  to  find  me 
where  there  were  terrible  sounds  going  on.  Sounds.  I  did 
not  like  it. 

[Mr.  Dorr  speaks:]  (Dr.  Hall  does  not  want  a  long  sitting 
and  would  also  like  to  question  about  a  diagnosis.  Would  that 
be  better  through  the  voice  or  the  hand?) 

[The  hand  shakes  in  dissent  to  voice  and  bows  to  hand.] 
I  am  not  a  physician,  but  I  will  find  some  one  who  can. 

[Hand  feels  Dr.  Hall's  back.] 

Not  there.     Not  there.     Let 

[Clark  speaks  again.]     Let  me  say  those  sounds  at 
were  not  at  all  congenial  to  me.     Do  you  ITD?     If  so,  I'll  be 
off.     Good-bye.     Glad  to  have  seen  you  for  a  moment.     More 
later. 

I  saw  your  own  father  a  moment  ago.     Good-bye. 

[Mr.  Clark  seems  to  leave  and  the  hand  feels  Dr.  Hall'a 
back.] 

173 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Health?  Yes  I'll  tell  you,  but  light  is  going  out  soon. 
Soon.     Here's  a  friend  who  will  have  a  look  at  you. 

(Can  you  tell  me  more  about  my  condition  of  health?) 

Heart  trouble  not  so.  Heart  trouble  not  so.  No  difficulty. 
Heart  trouble,  oh  no.  Heart.  Heart  trouble?  Oh  no.  Oh  no. 
Not  so.     Oh  No. 

[The  hand  was  repeatedly  asked  here  to  rewrite,  as  the 
writing  was  very  illegible.] 

Mr.  Dorr  again  says,  (Can't  you  tell  Dr.  Hall  the  symp- 
toms ?) 

[Hand  feels  eyes,  face,  and  back.]  Indigestion,  but  one 
of  general  health,  and  do  not  worry  about  digestive  trouble. 
A  trifle  anemic.  Anemic.  Yes.  A  trifle  so.  Indigestion. 
[Touches  abdomen.]  Indigestion.  General,  not  specific.  Do 
not  get  it  on  your  mind.  Not  enough  air.  Rest.  Rest, 
your  heart  better  not. 

(No.) 

Nor  kidneys. 

(No.) 

But  anemic  but  you  are 

(I  dare  say.) 

But  you  are  anemic.  You  certainly  are.  No  organic  dis- 
ease.    Organic.     This  I  know. 

(How  about  my  general  health?) 

Depression,  fatigue,  tired,  lack  of  energy.  Right,  right, 
right.     How  about  sleep? 

(Not  enough.) 

I  Do  not  take  the  universe  upon  your 

mind  upon  UNIVERSE  when  sleep  is  needed.    Let  the  world 
and  its  problems  rest. 

(That's  good.) 

The  brain  works  unceasingly  at  every  turn  and  wears  on 
the  nervous  system.     That's  the  greatest  trouble  with  you. 

(That's  true.) 

You  ought  to  remain  in  the  body  a  good  while  if  you  only 
take  care  of  yourself.     That  is  a  fact. 

(That's  good  news.) 

But  you  must  not  bum  the  candle  at  both  ends  as  you  have 
been  doing.     Stop  and  rest. 

174 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(That's  good  advice.) 

More  later.  [Handwriting  becomes  much  fainter.]  Light 
going.  Hodgson  going  also.  Good-bye  and  good  luck  to  you. 
Adieu.     And 

-{-  We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessing  of  God  be  on 
you  R.+ 

SUBLIMINAL 

The  hand  ceased  to  write  now,  at  12 :  11.  The  face  was 
much  flushed  and  mouth  open,  with  saliva  dripping  slightly. 
The  eyes  opened  very  slowly,  without  winking,  with  a  fixed 
stare.  After  two  or  three  minutes,  there  were  one  or  two  whis- 
pered words  which  we  could  not  catch,  and  then,  as  nearly  as 
we  could  understand,  the  following,  with  considerable  pause  as 
indicated  by  the  dots: 

Mother  .  .  .  mother  .  .  .  yah  .  .  don't  worry  about  me  .  .  . 
Fred  .  .  [as  if  speaking  to  some  one  in  the  spirit  world,]  He 
is  here  too  .  .  .  oh  .  ,  Take  your  glasses  off  and  they'll  know 
you  better.  [Spoken  quite  abruptly  and  more  loudly.  As  I 
am  the  only  one  with  glasses  on,  I  take  them  off.]  Come  along 
.  .  .  Elizabeth  .  .  .  Elizabeth  .  .  Elizabeth  ...  [I  ask  the 
others,  Elizabeth  who?  And  Dr.  Hall  says,  my  niece,  isn't  it?] 
Tell  my  mother  .  .  ,  Con't  worry  .  .  about  me  .  .  Better  so  .  . 
Go  along  there  now  and  tell  her  .  .  .  [Then  in  a  much  changed 
tone,  apparently  Mrs.  Piper's  normal  self  speaking,]  0-o-o-oh, 
Awful!!  [A  shudder.]  I  hate  it!  [Looking  at  Mr.  Dorr  with 
loathing.]      Ain't  you  ugly!     Oh,  ain't  you  ugly!     Ain't  you 

ugly! [Then,  still  more  normally  and  speaking  to  Dr. 

Hall,]     Did  you  hear  my  head  snap? 

Mr.  Dorr  then  said  that  this  marked  the  end  of  the 
trance  proper,  and  that  she  would  remember  what  she  said 
from  then  on.  Dr.  Hall  then  took  her  pulse,  time  12  :22, 
and  it  was  down  to  76. 

We  stayed  about  twenty  minutes  longer,  having  desul- 
tory conversation  in  which  Mrs.  Piper  joined,  although  she 
looked  sleepy,  her  eyelids  drooped  a  little,  and  her  articu- 

175 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

lation  was  slightly  indistinct.  She  said  that  she  always  felt 
heavy,  not  much  like  walking:,  and  Mr.  Dorr  added  that  if 
she  stays  in  the  trance  too  long  she  has  no  appetite  for 
dinner.  She  also  said  that  if  she  has  too  many  sittings  she 
feels  exhausted  all  the  time. 


COMMENTS  ON  FIRST   SITTING 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  quickly  personalities  multi- 
ply at  the  opening  of  the  sitting.  First  comes  Rector; 
almost  at  once  is  a  message  to  ' '  Helen, ' '  presumably  from 
some  friend  of  hers ;  then  Myers  greets  us ;  and  barely  have 
we  time  to  refer  to  Hodgson  when  he  is  there  with  a  bang. 
He  fires  out  questions  of  a  general  nature  which  Dr.  Hall 
answers  as  best  he  can  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  testing 
Hodgson  by  inventing  purely  imaginary  situations,  all  of 
which  Hodgson  recalls  readily.  In  Hodgson's  report  on 
the  Watseka  Wonder  there  is  no  hint  that  he  ever  suspected 
that  a  boy  was  the  object  of  the  girl's  behaviour,  and  yet 
here  he  repeats  emphatically,  "  I  told  you  so." 

Wolcott  might  refer  either  to  a  former  governor,  whom 
Dr.  Hall  had  met  once,  or  to  the  husband  of  a  friend,  whom 
he  saw  but  once,  on  his  wedding  day.  The  reference  to 
Dr.  Hall's  helping  either  of  them  is  inexplicable,  and  their 
appearance  to  him  quite  mal-apropos. 

The  conversation  on  the  subconscious,  etc.,  is  of  course 
entirely  general,  while  that  between  Mr.  Clark  and  Dr. 
Hall  is  open  to  the  same  criticism. 

The  niece,  Bessie  Beals,  was  a  fictitious  character  that 
we  had  previously  tried  on  another  medium  with  marked 
success,  and  here  it  works  equally  well.  Hodgson  takes  up 
the  suggestion  with  avidity,  and  proceeds  in  the  approved 
way,  with  the  suggestion  that  she  had  a  sister,  but  when 
Dr.  Hall  cannot  recollect  this  he  tries  to  put  it  so  far  in 
the  past  as  to  create  doubt  as  to  whether  Dr.  Hall  may  have 
heard  of  it,  though  it  is  true. 

176 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Another  feeler  is  thrown  out  in  Hackley,  which  again 
strikes  no  responsive  chord. 

The  diagnosis  is  amusing.  Dr.  Hall  is  emphatically 
not  anaemic,  nor  was  he  at  that  time  fatigued,  depressed, 
or  lacking  in  energy.  He  was  working  overtime,  and  so 
curtailed  his  hours  of  sleep  at  times,  but  was  not  sleepless 
or  worrying  as  the  diagnosis  implies. 

In  the  subliminal  more  feelers  are  thrown  out,  namely, 
Fred,  Elizabeth,  and  "  my  mother." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  things  is  the  control 's  adop- 
tion of  Dr.  Hall's  suggestion  through  manner,  etc.,  that 
they  knew  each  other  pretty  well  while  alive,  and  his  ref- 
erences to  arguments,  etc.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Dr.  Hall 
knew  him  so  slightly  that  he  cannot  recall  at  all  how  Hodg- 
son looked,  and  ho  is  not  sure  that  he  ever  saw  him  more 
than  once.  They  exchanged  a  few  letters  at  different  times, 
but  that  is  all. 

Dr.  Hall's  own  state  of  mind  is  best  given  in  his  own 
words,  written  within  two  days  after  the  sitting: 

"  Then  the  right  hand  waved  and  groped,  and  Mr. 
Dorr  placed  a  pencil  between  the  first  and  second  fingers, 
and  the  hand  wrote  rapidly : 

"  '  Hail!  AVe  greet  you  friends  all  with  peace  and 
joy.  R.  -|-  Do  not  place  clouds  in  my  vision.  R.  I  am 
Rector,  servant  of  God.     R. ' 

"  This  was  indeed  the  great  control.  Rector,  of  whose 
deliverances  we  had  read  so  much,  who  had  honoured  us 
by  his  advent  from  the  world  of  souls  with  an  angelic  salu- 
tation. Had  we  been  believers,  devotees,  burning  to  learn 
tidings  from  the  world  of  the  dear  or  great  dead,  this  would 
have  been  a  culminating  moment.  Somewhat  confusing 
was  the  wish  that  I,  who  had  expected  to  be  rather  silent, 
should  '  speak  to  '  Rector.     Then  came  the  first  message : 

"  '  Tell  Helen  I  am  better  off  as  I  am.' 

"  Helen  who?  Quick,  how  stupid  I  am!  Some  Helen 
that  I  ought  to  know  might  give  all  she  possessed  to  re- 

177 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ceive  this  message  of  the  eternal  complacency  of  some  one 
dear  to  her,  and  to  know  that  he  or  she  was  not  dead  but 
gone  before. 

' '  Now  comes  not  the  request  but  the  command,  '  Speak 
to  me.' 

"  Speak  to  whom?  Helen's  friend  or  Rector?  And 
what  can  I  say  when  I  am  uncertain  ?  I  have  come  to  hear 
and  have  nothing  I  desire  to  impart,  and  indeed  I  cannot 
think  of  anything  apropos.  While  I  wait,  a  little  dazed 
and  confused,  comes  the  message :  '  Myers  greets  you, '  with 
something  added  about  a  voice,  Ovid,  and  Dydeis. 

' '  This  must  be  the  Corypheus  of  the  English  Psychical 
Research  Society.  What  has  become  of  Helen's  friend,  or 
is  it  he  ?  And  which  of  these  personalities  shall  I  speak  to  1 
for  now  there  are  five — Rector,  Helen 's  friend,  Myers,  Ovid, 
Dydeis — and  perhaps  the  voice  is  another,  and  meanwhile 
we  cannot  escape  a  little  feeling  that  we  are  conversing 
with  a  modification  of  ]\Irs.  Piper's  own  personality.  But 
in  this  tangle  Mr,  Dorr  intervenes,  calling  for  Hodgson, 
who  comes  on  the  instant.  What  immediate  command  of 
the  spirit  world !  How  space  is  annihilated  and  how  the 
spirits  crowd  about  a  medium  of  communication  with  earth, 
as  if  they  were  constantly  pushing  each  other  from  the 
yonder  end  of  the  wire!  Perhaps  all  these  are  talking  di- 
rectly through  Mrs.  Piper  or  even  through  Rector,  who  may 
operate  this  wireless  for  each  in  succession. 

"  How  can  he  summon  individuals  from  all  the  vast 
clouds  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead  ?  If  it  is  my  presence  with 
the  medium  that  attracts  my  own  friends  in  the  next  world, 
I  must  be  the  real  battery  of  potency.  But  it  is  plain 
that  those  nearest  and  dearest  to  me  are  not  most  attracted, 
while  some  apparent  strangers  seem  to  be  drawn  my  way. 
This  seems  to  require  the  assumption  of  a  wide  spacial 
diffusion  of  spirits,  so  that  there  is  another  function  besides 
that  of  the  strength  of  friendship,  viz.,  the  proximity  to 
me  of  the  celestial  region  in  which  they  are.     This  theory 

178 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

may  work  out  even  better  than  that  of  the  potency  of  the 
mighty  soul-compelling  and  shepherding  power  of  Rector. 
No  wonder  we  experience  a  touch  of  something  like  stage- 
fright  as  the  realisation  shimmers  up  that  we  are,  as  it 
were,  translated  into  a  certain  part  of  the  vast  immeasur- 
able creation  with  thronging  souls  on  every  hand  about  us. 
But  we  must  lay  aside  this  throng  of  exciting  impressions 
to  be  remembered  and  dealt  with  later,  for  Hodgson  is 
curious  and  insistent  with  a  volley  of  brisk  questions.  He 
must  first  identify  me  surely  by  my  first  name ;  then  apolo- 
gises for  his  writing,  which  is  execrable,  and  asks  first: 

"  '  How  is  everything?  Hurry  up.  Tell  me  the  prob- 
lems of  life ;  have  you  solved  them  yet  ?  ' 

"  Thus  challenged,  I  trump  up  patter  about  the  Wat- 
seka  wonder,  whom  Hodgson  investigated  and  of  whom  a 
later,  more  sceptical  student  suggested  a  solution,  the  very 
hint  of  which  Hodgson  immediately  accepts  though  it  makes 
ducks  and  drakes  of  his  own  study  of  the  case  while  on 
earth.  Again  summoned  to  tell  something,  I  blunder  into 
the  stupendous  and  very  compoimd  falsehood  about  Mrs. 
Tingley.  Hodgson's  intense  hunger  for  news  must  be  fed. 
What  have  his  friends  been  doing  that  he  is  not  better 
informed  1  And  back  of  all  in  my  consciousness  is  the  mar- 
vel how  he  can  possibly  accept  the  absurdest  gaff  I  can 
think  of  with  such  implicit  and  immediate  faith.  Surely 
all  his  life  and  since  he  must  have  been  used  to  dealing 
with  people  who  treat  spirits  with  implicit  honesty,  and  his 
acceptance  of  my  involuted  lie  fills  me  with  qualms  of  con- 
science. But  I  am  a  detective  in  quest  of  truth,  and  the 
end  must  justify  the  means.  Strange,  too,  that  he  should 
be  so  glad  to  meet  me,  stranger  and  critic  though  he  knew 
me  in  the  flesh.  But,  poor  soul,  he  must  have  lost  intimate 
touch  with  earth  and,  as  a  traveller  in  a  far-distant  coun- 
try feels  like  falling  on  the  neck  of  the  veriest  stranger, 
no  matter  who  he  be,  from  his  own  native  land,  so  Hodg- 
son 's  pleasure  and  his  familiar  greeting  of  me  as  '  old  chap  ' 

179 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

is  moving  evidence  of  the  breadth  of  the  chasm  that  would 
completely  isolate  this  and  the  other  world,  were  it  not 
for  the  few  wireless  stations  which  have  been  erected  in 
the  souls  of  mediums. 

"  But  I  am  left  no  time  to  yield  even  to  remorse  at  my 
base  and  clumsily  trumped  up  fabrication.  Indeed  a  new 
and  cogent  evidence  of  the  sagacity  of  the  denizens  of  the 
spirit  world  is  just  here  revealed.  An  instant  call  for 
Wolcott  at  this  point  must  be  the  way  in  which,  according 
to  well-bred  spirits,  the  subject  is  politely,  if  abruptly, 
changed  when  they  detect  mendacity  in  the  depths  of  the 
communicator's  soul.  As  I  better  understand  the  etiquette 
of  the  celestial  spheres,  I  shall  realise  in  what  a  masterly 
manner  my  lie  was  drawn  fully  out  by  the  method  of  pre- 
tended acceptance,  and  that  I  was  given  to  understand  in 
this  delicate  way  that  I  was  completely  seen  through. 

"  But  Wolcott,  when  I  thought  I  had  identified  him, 
was  a  surprise.  How  could  so  mundane  a  man  have  joined 
the  spiritual  circle  above?  And  is  he  talking  directly  to 
me,  or  does  he  tell  Hodgson,  Hodgson  tell  Rector,  and  Rec- 
tor tell  me  through  ]\Irs.  Piper's  hand?  Probably  Wol- 
cott himself  is  at  the  phone,  because  it  was  at  this  point 
that  Hodgson's  sweater  was  needed  and  brought  to  bring 
him  back.  But  where  is  Rector,  and  what  is  he  doing?  I 
cannot  even  know  whom  I  am  communicating  with  but 
must  prattle  on,  after  charging  my  memory  with  Wolcott 's 
message  to  his  living  wife,  to  be  delivered  when  I  can. 
How  heartily  he  accepts  all  my  platitudes  about  the  uncon- 
scious and  Davey,  kindly  ignoring  my  error  in  calling  him 
Davis,  about  Mrs.  Blake,  Abbott,  Hyslop,  James,  Witmer — 
these  are  references  to  the  latest  literature  on  the  subject 
on  which  the  controls,  whoever  they  are,  are  remarkably 
well  informed  and  up  to  date.  To  be  sure,  their  responses 
to  my  information  are  vague,  but  they  make  up  in  hearti- 
ness and  emphasis.  It  seems  to  me  that  they  are  making 
me  do  too  much  of  the  talking  and  are  learning  far  more 

180 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

of  my  world  than  I  of  theirs.  My  news-letter  to  them 
would  be  luridly  yellow,  even  where  it  was  most  truthful, 
but  now  all  is  eagerly  devoured.  They  must  be  drawing 
me  on  to  fill  up  to  the  brim  the  measure  of  my  falsity. 

"  But  I  go  on  with  abandon  now,  for  there  could  be  no 
more  unpardonable  sin  against  the  Manes  than  I  have 
already  committed;  and  so  very  subtly  and  cleverly  I  call 
for  a  fictitious  name  along  with  that  of  a  man  whom  I  knew 
very  well.  Both  are  present  on  the  instant.  The  pseudo- 
personality,  Bessie  Beals,  was  accepted  and  she  immedi- 
ately appeared.  What  could  this  mean?  Possibly  there 
was  a  soul  to  be  thus  named  awaiting  birth,  or  one  who 
had  lived  and  was  awaiting  reincarnation,  if  transmigra- 
tion is  true.  Here  is  indeed  a  plump  and  astonishing  new 
fact,  and  I  must  later  reconstruct  my  astral  psychology  at 
my  leisure.  To  complete  the  confusion,  a  relative  within 
three  days  mentioned  to  me  incidentally  one  Bessie  Beals, 
still  living,  as  a  friend,  whom  I  may  have  heard  her  speak 
of  before.  If  so,  the  control  read  the  name  registered  in 
my  subliminal  mind.  I  hope  that  she  will  not  be  told,  for 
such  an  incident  might  seem  an  uncanny  prognostication 
that  she  will  soon  join  the  spirit  forces.  Is  it  possible  to 
construct  a  phantom  spirit  out  of  the  stuff  that  dreams  are 
made  of  ?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  could  I  have  invented  a 
name,  with  ever  so  much  labour,  which  no  one  ever  bore? 
If  not,  my  contemplated  strategy  can  never  be  conclusively 
negative. 

"  I  am  asked  of  her  mother  and  told  of  a  tiny  baby 
sister  whose  existence  I  deny,  but  I  am  informed  that  she 
died  when  very  tiny.  I  wonder  how  small?  Perhaps  so 
long  before  birth  that  even  her  mother  did  not  know.  The 
spirits  must  be  infallible  and  such  things  do  happen,  as 
medical  literature  tells  us.  But,  hold !  All  is  fictitious. 
She  would  be  the  sister  of  nobody,  so  my  refutation  is  im- 
possible, for  there  is  nothing  but  my  own  verbal  image,  for 
I  have  not  invested  Bessie  with  any  traits  whatever.     She 

181 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

is  vox  et  praeterea  nihil.  The  control  sees  through  all  this 
and  I  am  punished  aright.  A  fool  is  answered  according 
to  his  foUy.  But  the  spirits  are  delicate  as  well  as  subtle 
not  to  overwhelm  me  with  more  open  confusion. 

"  Clark  now  has  his  innings,  and  I  am  complimented  by 
his  partial  concession  that  in  some  disputed  points  he  now, 
with  his  clarified  insight,  acknowledges  that  I  was  right, 
although  in  others  he  still  confutes  me ;  therefore,  in  these 
I  must  be  wrong.  But  what  are  the  points  of  present  agree- 
ment and  disagreement?  Here  again  the  spirits  leave  us 
just  at  the  point  of  the  most  tantalising  will-to-know.  I 
must  henceforth  remain  in  ignorance,  even  of  the  meaning 
of  a  few  words,  because  utterly  illegible,  in  his  oracular 
sentences;  and  others  I  could  torture  and  compose  into  as 
many  kinds  of  meanings  as  the  sibylline  leaves.  But  he 
has  had  his  turn  and  must  yield. 

"  Then  comes  my  dear  father,  but  how  agonising!  He 
only  presents  his  card  as  a  present  and  says  good-bye; 
but  is  his  farewell  merely  for  the  moment?  Can  he  be 
recalled,  or  is  his  farewell  for  this  world  or  possibly  even 
for  the  next  ?  How  the  sitter  is  tormented  with  hind-sights 
that  came  an  instant  too  late !  What  will  the  spirits  think 
of  a  man  who  will  let  the  seconds  of  possibility  of  com- 
munion with  his  father  slip  by,  not  showing  that  he  even 
wishes  to  meet  him,  and  turn  to  the  selfish  questioning  con- 
cerning his  own  health  1 

"  This,  too,  is  reckless  temerity.  Some  people  are  re- 
luctant to  submit  to  thoroughgoing  medical  examination, 
to  test  for  incipient  but  not  yet  recognised  diseases  of  heart, 
lungs,  kidneys,  brain,  nerves;  but  with  due  trepidation,  I 
even  sought  the  infallible  X-ray  diagnosis  of  the  immor- 
tals. Will  they  give  me  a  clean  bill  of  health  or  am  I  to 
live  henceforth  under  a  sentence  of  impending  dissolution  ? 
Do  I  really  want  or  dare  to  submit  my  physical  condition 
to  their  omniscience?  Alas,  I  am  growing  a  little  tense 
in  the  mood  of  a  plunger,  and  I  must  know.    At  my  age, 

182 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

too,  death  may  lurk  nearer  than  I  dream;  yet  I  confess 
my  courage  is  buoyed  up  by  a  feeling  that  I  am  so  sarcous 
that  I  cannot  entirely  escape  the  physical  plane,  and  a 
partial  sense  that  I  am  submitting  to  the  mortal  arbitra- 
ment of  Mrs.  Piper,  and  that,  though  a  potent  ghost-com- 
peller,  she  is  at  least  in  this  first  interview  on  the  whole 
so  favourably  disposed  toward  me  that  her  disposition  will 
be  that  I  may  live  on,  and  that  will  weigh  something  toward 
a  favourable  verdict.  Perhaps,  if  she  had  fully  realised 
my  true  sceptical  attitude,  I  might  be  condemned  to  early 
dissolution;  but  my  prophetic  soul  is  right  in  this  case, 
and  so  with  what  joy  do  I  learn  that,  if  I  do  not  overwork, 
I  may  hope  to  live  and  work  for  a  yet  goodly  tale  of  years. 

"  *  You  ought  to  remain  in  the  body  a  good  while  yet 
if  you  only  take  care  of  yourself.     That  is  a  fact.' 

* '  And  now  came  the  benediction : 

"  '  Adieu,  and  may  the  blessing  of  God  be  with  you. 

R.+' 

' '  Rector  disappeared  and  we  are  again  in  the  world  of 
mortals. 

' '  How  vastly  harder  and  longer  for  the  medium  to  re- 
turn from  the  other  shore  than  to  get  there !  How  reluctant 
and  how  slow  is  the  recessional!  How  painful  the  way 
back  and  down !  So  ecstatic  has  been  her  condition,  that 
contrast  intensifies  the  agony  of  it  all.  Her  face  is  pathet- 
ically marked  by  the  embroidery  of  the  pillow  and  the 
folded  towel ;  her  hair  is  dishevelled ;  her  eyes  are  bleary 
and  vacant,  and  her  mouth  slightly  drooling.  How  all  her 
womanly  instincts  must  be  outraged  by  our  keen  observa- 
tion and  even  our  presence  as  she  recovers  from  the  psy- 
chic operation  which  she  has  undergone !  She  murmurs 
almost  incoherently  snatchy  and  disconnected  phrases,  and 
we  place  our  ears  close  to  her  mouth  to  hear  them.  Her 
staring  eyes  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  face  of  Mr.  Dorr,  which 
she  recognises  as  the  first  land-mark  on  the  nether  shore  to 
which  she  is  doomed  to  return  ;  and,  although  he  is  not  bad- 

183 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

looking,  she  cries  out  thrice  and  with  loathing:  '  Aren't  you 
ugly  1  '  So  entrancing  have  been  the  dreams  of  the  bourne 
from  which  few  travellers  return,  but  from  which  she  is 
making  perhaps  her  five-thousandth  laboured  land-fall, 
that  her  poor  soul  miLst  feel  expelled  from  Paradise  for, 
although  she  must  have  glimpsed  it  in  her  communion  with 
its  denizens,  the  hour  of  her  permanent  translation  has  not 
yet  come.  We  should  be  stony-hearted  indeed,  did  we  not 
share  the  pathos  and  pity  of  it  all. 

"  Indeed  it  is  sad  enough  for  us,  for  now  we  must  go 
home  and  devote  ourselves  to  the  laborious  decipherment  of 
sixty  pages  and  subject  them  to  exhaustive  tests;  but  the 
oracle  itself  is  done.  What  is  written  is  written.  We  can 
only  wait  until  this  remarkable  middle-woman  shall  again 
consent  to  re-open  the  celestial  world  for  us,  who  can  mean- 
while only  rehearse  our  recollections  and  re-peruse  our 
script,  and  remember  how  our  hearts  burned  as  our  ac- 
quaintances in  the  spirit  world  spoke  to  us  and  left  our 
souls  so  himgry  for  more  complete  impartations.  All  was 
so  appetising  yet  so  baffling,  and  we  await  on  tip-toe  of  ex- 
pectation the  renewal  of  the  heavenly  rapport.  Everything 
indicates  that  intelligence  somehow  travels  very  rapidly  up 
yonder,  and  next  time  perhaps  the  dear  departed  will  hear 
that  we  have  found  a  way  for  them  to  reach  us ;  and,  realis- 
ing that  they  can  do  so,  they  may  anxiously  await  the  re- 
opening of  the  line  of  communication  and  throng  about  its 
terminal,  charged  with  messages  of  love  and  assurance, 
pneumatically  discerning  and  tenderly  making  allowance 
for  our  dulness  and — perhaps  also  realising  that  next  time 
it  may  be  well  for  them  to  bring  better  credentials  of  their 
identification. 

' '  But  how  grossly  mundane  and  material  we  have  been 
all  these  years  in  our  fleshly  tabernacles,  and  how  incred- 
ulous and  inhospitable  to  realities  and  personalities  above, 
and  with  what  toil  and  moil  of  soul  must  we  now  recon- 
struct our  poor  philosophy  of  life  to  make  it  f adge  with  the 

184 


FIRST    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

revelations  that  have  been  vouchsafed  us  in  this  momentous 
hour.  Perhaps  the  lengthened  span  of  life  the  spirit  has 
allowed  me  may  suffice  for  suitable  adjustment ;  yet  there  is 
no  time  to  spare,  for  it  must  be  an  au  rebours  conversion 
and  should  have  come  earlier  in  life.  Yet  better,  far  better, 
late  than  never.  At  any  rate,  of  all  the  variations  of  the 
memory  symphony  of  these  ninety  minutes  in  the  former 
critical  or  negative  mood,  this  variant,  with  the  stop  of 
sympathetic  faith  pulled  full  on,  is  registered  as  the  most 
harmonious  of  all.  Indeed,  this  interpretation  is  more  con- 
sistent with  the  remarkable  will-to-believe,  which  coincides 
most  exactly  with  the  deep,  hereditary  impulsion  from  an 
immemorial  past,  back  it  may  be  to  the  Cave  Dwellers, 
who  believed  essentially  thus.  It  is  the  easiest,  fondest, 
most  popular,  comforting  view-point.  And  so  let  the  stern 
laws  of  nature  and  science,  that  are  so  hard  on  such  invet- 
erate credulities,  dear  though  they  be  to  the  heart,  mellow 
a  little.  The  Memnonian  lips  of  the  Sphinx,  hitherto  so 
silent  as  to  the  destiny  of  the  soul,  are  at  last  parted  a 
little  and  whispering  to  tell  us  that  though  man  dies  he 
shall  live  again.  Or  is  it  only  the  nrwnnur  of  the  sea-shell, 
giving  hack  to  the  ear  the  entaural  susurrus  of  the  circula- 
tion of  its  own  blood f  Videant  consules,  which  means  pay 
your  twenty  plunks  and  take  your  choice. ' ' 


15 


CHAPTER   XI 
SITTINGS   WITH   MRS.   PIPER:    SECOND   SITTING 

Between  the  first  and  second  sittings  we  endeavoured 
to  formulate  a  plan  for  testing  the  control  thoroughly. 

First  as  to  the  things  we  believed  it  unprofitable  to  do. 
We  were  convinced  that  it  would  be  valueless  to  conceal 
our  names  and  identity,  since  even  if  Mrs.  Piper  afterward 
gave  them  to  us,  it  would  be  non-evidential  to  us.  Dr.  Hall 
being  so  well  known  and  various  people  being  necessarily 
informed  of  our  plans.  We  also  escaped  in  this  way  a 
long  series  of  fishing  operations  to  which  most  sitters  are 
subjected  when  first  they  begin  to  sit. 

Further,  we  had  no  desire  whatever  to  obtain  "  test 
messages,"  my  results  from  the  published  sittings  having 
shown  their  triviality  and  dreariness  and  the  impossibility 
of  getting  down  all  the  remarks  and  other  circumstances 
which  might  explain  them. 

The  difficulty  in  recording  everything  said,  especially 
the  exact  words,  made  it  necessary  to  employ  tests  of  such 
a  nature  that  their  validity  would  not  depend  upon  getting 
the  exact  language,  but  only  the  sense. 

On  the  positive  side,  we  wished  to  test  various  things. 
In  general,  our  problem  was  to  account  for  all  the  content 
of  each  sitting,  to  trace  it  back  to  its  sources  if  possible. 
These  sources  are  two  in  number,  namely,  the  medium's 
own  knowledge,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  sitter.  The  me- 
dium's  own  knowledge  we  assumed  to  be  gained  in  some 
normal  way.  Either  the  control,  that  is  the  subconscious 
self,  retains  memories  forgotten  by  Mrs.  Piper  and  of  whose 

186 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

source  it  itself  is  ignorant,  or  it  knows  more  or  less  con- 
sciously where  they  came  from.  The  normal  Mrs.  Piper, 
we  will  assume,  has  not  a  distinct  enough  memory  of  the 
trance  state  to  try  to  help  out  the  control,  even  if  she 
wished  to.  This  does  not,  however,  dispose  of  the  possi- 
bility that  the  normal  self  may  assist  the  subconscious. 

One  of  the  most  common  things  in  a  sitting  is  for  the 
control  to  say  that  he  will  consider  some  problem  and  give 
an  answer  at  a  later  sitting.  Sometimes  this  extends  over 
weeks  or  months,  the  problem  being  referred  to  every  now 
and  then.  At  the  same  time,  the  content  of  all  sittings  is 
most  carefully  kept  a  secret  from  Mrs.  Piper  and  her 
daughters  until  they  are  published.  Now,  why  is  it  not 
possible  that  the  problems  so  set  for  the  control  affect  the 
waking  consciousness  in  some  such  way  as  post-hypnotic 
suggestions  do,  or  perhaps  better,  why  may  they  not  emerge 
into  waking  life  or  dreams  as  is  often  the  case  in  recognised 
cases  of  secondary  personality?  Ansel  Bourne,  for  in- 
stance, had  dreams  of  his  first  self  long  before  he  had  any 
memory  of  it,  and  images  and  incidents  of  his  first  life 
would  pop  up  in  his  mind  as  if  uncaused,  and  were  not 
recognised  by  him.  Is  it  not  possible  that  sometimes  words, 
names,  etc.,  from  the  trance  thus  pop  up  into  Mrs.  Piper's 
mind,  and  if  they  catch  her  attention  and  rouse  her  curi- 
osity she  may  speak  of  them  or  look  up  their  meaning  and 
connections  ? 

This  hypothesis  of  course  could  only  be  tested  com- 
pletely if  some  investigator  could  live  in  close  personal  re- 
lations with  Mrs.  Piper,  and  she  was  willing  to  think  out 
loud  as  much  as  possible. 

Whether  this  hypothesis  is  true  or  not,  undoubtedly  the 
lapse  of  time  between  asking  questions  and  giving  answers 
alloM^s  the  subconscious  mind  to  put  together  all  its  knowl- 
edge, to  mull  over  the  matter,  and  to  guess  and  infer  as 
to  what  is  wanted.  This  easily  accounts  for  the  fact  that 
the  first  sitting  is  usually  the  worst. 

187 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

The  other  side  of  this  matter  is,  how  much  the  control 
remembers  of  Mrs.  Piper.  We  were  not  able  to  find  in  the 
published  records  that  any  careful  investigation  of  this 
matter  has  been  made,  and  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  be  an 
interesting  problem.  The  control  states  that  he  has  no 
knowledge  of  Mrs.  Piper,  and  no  relations  to  her  body, 
but  is  this  really  true?  How  much  sensitiveness  is  there 
in  the  medium's  body?  How  similar  are  her  modes  of 
thought  and  the  control's,  and  her  emotional  disposition 
and  his?  In  short,  how  many  points  of  connection  can  we 
establish  between  the  two? 

The  second  source  of  information  is  the  sitter.  Here 
we  wished  to  see  how  amenable  the  control  would  be  to  sug- 
gestion, and  how  much  he  would  give  us  of  fact  which  we 
had  not  first  given  to  him. 

In  all  this,  of  course,  w^e  were  confronted  by  the  ques- 
tion of  what  our  attitude  to  the  control  should  be.  We 
recognised  that  some  ardent  partisans  of  the  control  will 
consider  any  real  experimenting  with  him  as  a  breach  of 
faith,  to  say  nothing  of  a  breaking  of  moral  laws.  But 
such  partisans  are  not  seriouisly  to  be  considered  in  any 
experimenting.  We,  therefore,  had  no  hesitation  in  going 
ahead  in  the  same  way  that  we  should  in  any  laboratory 
experiments.  The  Psychical  Research  Society  and  the  nor- 
mal Mrs.  Piper  have  said  repeatedly  and  explicitly  that 
they  wish  this  matter  to  be  tried  out  to  the  utmost,  and  we 
simply  took  them  at  their  words.  Now,  in  all  psychological 
experiments  where  the  subject's  own  consciousness  is  con- 
cerned, it  is  not  wise  to  let  the  subject  know  the  nature  or 
purpose  of  the  experiments,  because  such  knowledge  inev- 
itably modifies  his  attitude  and  vitiates  the  results.  In 
many  experiments  the  experimenter  deliberately  leads  the 
subject  astray,  distracting  his  attention  to  unessentials  by 
his  remarks,  arrangement  of  apparatus,  etc.  In  doing  this 
he  does  not  consider  either  that  he  is  morally  telling  a 
lie,  or  that  he  implies  any  doubts  of  the  subject's  verac- 

188 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

ity.  He  is  simply  fulfilling  the  best  conditions  for  the 
experiment. 

This  then  was  our  attitude  toward  Mrs.  Piper  and  her 
control.  We  had  read  repeatedly  and  had  also  been  told 
that  we  could  not  get  the  best  results  without  being  sympa- 
thetic and  open-minded,  and  this  we  endeavoured  to  be. 
We  told  Mrs.  Piper  frankly  that  we  did  not  know  what  our 
conclusions  would  be,  but  that  we  wished  to  experiment  and 
were  open  to  conviction,  and  she  gave  us  carte  blanche. 

We  laid  our  plans,  therefore,  along  the  general  lines  in- 
dicated above,  though  not  strictly  in  that  order. 

To  ascertain  the  similarities  and  differences  between  the 
control  and  the  normal,  and  also  to  discover  any  feeling 
complexes  which  might  help  to  account  for  the  splitting 
up  of  the  normal  self,  we  thought  that  perhaps  we  might 
apply  the  Jung-Freud  method  of  lists  of  words  with  their 
reaction  times,  giving  them  both  in  the  trance  and  normal 
states.  According  to  this  theory,  w'hen  a  word  is  given,  the 
subject  is  asked  to  give  the  first  word  that  comes  into  his 
head,  as  quickly  as  possible.  If  this  word  comes  slowly,  or 
if  the  association  between  it  and  the  test  word  is  a  superfi- 
cial one,  it  indicates  some  feeling  connected  with  that  word. 
In  the  case  of  ambiguous  words,  the  direction  taken  by 
the  association  shows  something  of  the  subject's  mental  atti- 
tude, also  indicating  feelings  among  those  lines. 

We  proceeded  therefore,  for  our  second  sitting,  first  to 
make  out  a  list  of  100  words,  having  in  mind  especially 
certain  sets  of  ideas  which  Jung  and  Freud  have  found  most 
common  in  their  cases  of  divided  personality. 

1.  Words  relating  directly  to  sex.  Freud  believes  that 
nearly  or  quite  all  of  his  cases  are  referable  to  shock  along 
this  line.  In  Mrs.  Piper's  case  such  a  shock  might  have 
occurred  in  her  first  operation,  as  well  as  in  the  accident 
which  preceded  it,  or  there  may  have  been  some  shock 
unknown  to  us. 

2.  We  had  also  a  group  of  words  bearing  upon  tumor, 

189 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

operation,  etc.,  to  see  how  much  if  any  lengthening  of  reac- 
tion there  was  here. 

3.  A  group  on  women's  occupations  to  bring  out  char- 
acteristic masculine  reactions  from  the  control  and  fem- 
inine ones  from  the  normal. 

4.  A  group  connected  with  mediumship. 

5.  A  small  one  on  tragedy. 

6.  Words  as  filling. 

This  list  we  wished  to  give  first  to  the  control  and  then 
to  the  waking  Mrs.  Piper  on  the  same  day. 

In  the  second  place,  we  wished  to  test  the  suggestibility 
of  the  control,  and  incidentally  his  veracity.  We  there- 
fore created  two  more  spirits,  taking  as  basis  the  words 
Helen  and  Hackley,  thrown  out  by  the  control  at  the  first 
sitting.  We  argued  that  if  the  control  were  sincere  he 
would  tell  us  that  he  could  not  find  these  spirits,  and  even 
if  a  lying  spirit,  who  pretended  to  be  one  of  these,  usurped 
their  name  and  function,  such  a  spirit  would  hardly  dare 
to  invent  incidents,  but  would  confine  himself  to  assenting 
to  our  remarks  or  to  making  general  ones. 

Much  of  the  conversation  between  the  sitters  was  not 
taken  down  in  this  sitting,  but  this  matters  little  for  our 
purposes,  since  we  were  not  after  test  messages. 

Before  Mrs.  Piper  entered  the  trance  we  talked  with 
her  about  various  things.  Dr.  Hall  explained  to  her  that 
we  had  no  doubt  at  all  about  the  genuineness  of  her  trance 
or  of  her  own  honesty,  and  asked  her  if  she  could  produce 
the  trance  at  will,  and  how  she  did  it. 

She  said  that  she  tried  to  make  her  mind  a  blank  and 
to  forget  our  presence,  but  that  she  did  not  think  of  her 
breathing  or  regulate  it  at  all.  Mr.  Dorr  insisted  at  some 
length  that  she  knows  nothing  about  those  Oriental  re- 
ligious cults  in  which  breathing  is  an  important  part  of  the 
ritual. 

When  asked  as  to  whether  she  has  any  memory  of  her 
trances,  she  said  with  reiteration  and  emphasis  that  she 

190 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

never  has  even  a  glimmer  of  memory,  that  when  she  reads 
the  reports  of  her  sittings  it  is  just  like  reading  about 
another  person,  and  that  she  can  hardly  believe  that  she 
did  and  said  the  things  recorded. 

She  has  read  every  published  report  of  her  sittings. 
She  also  has  tried  to  read  some  of  Prince's  works,  but 
found  them  "  tiresome,"  while  she  very  much  liked  James's 
"  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience." 

Religiously,  she  was  brought  up  as  a  Methodist,  but 
when  her  parents  moved  to  a  town  where  there  was  only  a 
Congregational  church,  they  and  she  joined  that.  Of  late 
years  she  has  not  belonged  to  any  church.  She  has  thought 
of  connecting  herself  with  one,  but  has  been  held  back  by 
doubt  as  to  whether  any  church  would  care  to  have  her, 
with  her  mediumistic  powers,  as  a  member. 

This  conversation  lasted  perhaps  fifteen  minutes.  At 
10.30  she  began  to  look  sleepy  and  her  eyes  were  slightly 
fixed,  her  pulse  was  84;  at  10.31  her  mouth  began  to 
drop  open ;  at  10.32  her  respiration  was  22,  breathing  ster- 
torous, eyes  closed;  at  10.33,  pulse  84,  respiration  15, 
breathing  very  stertorous,  head  dropped  to  pillow ;  at  10.35, 
respiration  10. 

Hand  began  writing  at  10.35  or  10.36. 

4-Hail.  We  return  again  to  act  ever  more  with  peace  and 
joy.+    (R.) 

(Can  you  bring  Hodgson?) 

We  will,  friend,  he  is  coming.  +  R. 

[The  hand  then  twists,  clenches,  and  looks  very  tense,  but 
the  writing  does  not  seem  heavier  or  different.] 

Hello!  I  am  Hodgson.  Hello,  Hall.  Glad  to  see  you. 
Here  is  nowadays  all  right. 

[Dr.  Hall  then  explains  at  some  length  our  plan  for  trying 
the  Jung  method,  something  as  follows.] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  remember  something  I  want  you  to  go 
back  to.  Do  you  remember  our  talk  at  the  Botolph  Club  about 
a  new  method  with  words  that  has  been  very  successful  and 

191 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

very  important?  You  know  it  is  something  like  this:  I  give 
you  a  word,  and  you  write  down  the  first  thing  that  comes 
into  your  head,  no  matter  what  it  is,  just  as  quickly  as  you 
can.  Now,  this  will  be  of  a  great  deal  of  help  to  me,  and  will 
be  very  important  indeed.     Will  you  try  it?) 

I  will  if  I  understand  clearly.  Speak  slowly.  All  right. 
Fire  away. 

(For  instance,  now,  when  I  say  Boy,  you  are  to  write 
the  first  thing  you  can.  Boy,  man.  Desk,  chair,  etc.  Do 
you  see?) 

[The  hand  assents  eagerly,  and  Dr.  Hall  goes  through  the 
list  given  in  the  Appendix.  We  had  intended  to  take  the  re- 
action times,  but  it  was  all  so  rapid  that  we  found  it  impos- 
sible to  do  so.  Except  where  noted  the  hand  would  dash  at  the 
paper  before  Dr.  Hall  got  the  whole  word  out,  and  write  it 
very  rapidly.  Throughout,  the  hand  was  quivering  and  rest- 
less. When  it  could  not  get  an  association  at  once,  the  pencil 
tapped  the  paper  restlessly,  and  the  whole  impression  was  that 
of  the  most  intense  alertness  and  eagerness.  We  had  been 
afraid  that  Hodgson  might  be  reluctant  or  suspicious  of  any- 
thing new  and  strange,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  took  it  up  with 
avidity  and  seemed  to  look  on  it  as  a  sort  of  game. 

This  as  well  as  the  remainder  of  the  sitting  show  how  ex- 
tremely suggestible  the  control  is.  It  looks  as  if  he  were  only 
too  glad  to  let  some  one  else  take  the  lead,  and  give  him  all 
the  suggestions  that  that  implies,  and  that  long  immunity  from 
deceitful  sitters  has  made  him  singularly  confiding  and  trust- 
ful so  that  it  never  occurs  to  him  that  they  may  deliberately 
lead  him  astray. 

Mr.  Dorr  has  said  that  even  if  we  succeeded  in  getting  the 
controls  to  admit  that  they  were  only  secondary  personalities, 
it  would  prove  nothing,  since  they  are  so  suggestible  that  they 
would  probably  adopt  any  theory,  whether  it  is  true  or  not. 
The  point  is  that  the  control's  assertions  about  his  identity 
have  no  value  one  way  or  the  other,  and  this  perhaps  is  true. 
But  if  the  sitter  can  make  the  control  change  his  personality 
at  will,  sometimes  being  purely  fictitious  personages,  and 
sometimes  real  ones,  with  as  much  ease  and  vividness  in  the 
one  case  as  in  the  other,  it  certainly  creates  a  strong  presump- 

192 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

tion  that  the  impersonations  of  real  characters  are  also  just 
impersonations  and  no  more. 

We  ought  also  to  note  that  Mr.  Dorr  as  well  as  the  Re- 
searchers generally  are  keenly  aware  that  much  of  what  is  said 
by  the  sitters  is  never  taken  down,  and  is  forgotten  even  before 
the  sitting  is  over.] 

[After  the  list  was  finished,  Dr.  Hall  said:] 

(Thank  you  very  much,  Hodgson.  That  was  splendid.  You 
have  been  very  patient,  and  I'll  do  as  much  for  you  some 
time.) 

Never  you  mind  about  that,  old  chap.  How  much  wiser  are 
you  than  you  were  before? 

(Oh,  I'm  a  lot  wiser.  I've  learned  a  great  deal,  and  I'll 
tell  you  about  it  later.) 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  understand. 

(Oh,  yes,  you  can,  when  I  tell  you.) 
it.     I  felt  it  fatiguing. 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  want  to  ask  you  a  very  important 
question.) 

[Dr.  HaU  then  explains  that  after  the  last  sitting  it  came 
to  him  that  he  did  once  know  a  Helen  Shackleigh,  the  wife 
of  an  old  friend.  Dr.  Borst,  with  whom  he  had  studied  in  Ger- 
many. It  had  occurred  to  him  that  this  was  the  Helen  men- 
tioned at  the  very  beginning  of  the  first  sitting,  and  that 
Hackley  was  an  attempt  to  get  Shackleigh.  He  asked  the 
control  if  he  remembered  writing  Hackley,  and  the  control 
replied :] 

I  said  it  certainly.     Who  is  that?     Plem 

(That  was  an  attempt,  then,  to  spell  her  name?) 

Phonetically. 

(Then,  do  you  know  her  husband,  Dr.  Borst?) 

Yes,  I  do  know  well. 

(She  very  much  wants  to  hear  from  him.) 

I'll  find  him  and  all  you  have  to  do  is  bring  her  here. 

[At  this  point  came  an  interlude,  Dr.  Hall  exclaiming  over 
the  difficulty  of  reading  the  writing,  and  appealing  to  Mr.  Dorr 
to  help  him,  and  Dr.  Tanner  telling  him  that  he  must  stop  the 
hand  when  it  was  illegible  and  make  it  rewrite.  The  hand 
seemed  to  listen,  and  at  the  last,  nodded  approval  and  wrote,] 

193 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

You  have  a  good  clear  head,  whoever  you  are,  and  I  am 
glad  to  meet  you. 

[Dr.  Hall  then  said:] 

(If  this  is  you,  Dr.  Borst,  I  want  you  to  give  a  message — ) 

[The  hand  interrupted,] 

He  says,  I  will  find  him  and  bring  him  here. 

(He  was  an  old  friend  of  mine.  We  studied  together  years 
ago  in  Germany.) 

I  know  all  about  it.    I'll  help  you  as  much  as  I  can. 

(He  was  a  good  deal  such  a  chap  as  you  are,  but  he  did 
not  believe  in  Spiritualism.  His  wife  did,  but  he  drove  it  out 
of  her,  and  now  she  wants  to  hear  from  him.) 

He  will  tell  you  what  is  in  his  mind  presently.  More  later. 
Have  you  got  anything  more  about  materialisation?  Mate- 
rialisation. 

(Not  since  the  last  sitting.  You  gave  me  some  pretty  tough 
problems  at  the  last  sitting,  and  you've  helped  me  very 
much.) 

I  want  you  to  know  there  are  certain  conditions  under 
which  I  could  shake  hands  with  you  but  there  would  be  no — 
could  shake  hands  with  you. 

(I  don't  understand.     What  are  those  conditions?) 

Certain  cosmic  laws  govern  our  return.     Cosmic.     I 
my  ethereal    conditions  I    will  Hall, 

Hall.     Ah!     Ah!     I  have  you  now. 

[Apparently  this  marks  the  advent  of  Borst.] 

I  told  you  I  should  live.     Help  light. 

[Mrs.  Piper's  nose  had  become  buried  in  the  pillow  so  that 
she  could  hardly  breathe.  The  hand  continues  writing  at  con- 
siderable length  without  question  or  suggestion.] 

Tell  Helen  I  want  her  to  know  I  am  changed  in  many  re- 
spects and  ask  her  if  she  remembers  how  annoyed  I  got  with 
her  over  a  certain  book  she  gave  me  one  Christmas.  I  didn't 
like  the  subject.  She  used  to  say  I  was  stubborn.  Ask  her  if 
she  thinks  so  now?    I  want  of  all  things  to  help  her. 

(Was  the  book  about  Spiritualism?) 

No,  but  about  Olcott  theories,  Olcott. 

(Repeat  that  word.) 

Theories.    Olcott  theories.     She  was  very  long-headed  after 

194 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

all.     I  admit  it.     I  admit.     Ask  her  if  she  remembers  a  mole 
scar.     SCAR 

[Repetition  called  for.] 

Mole.     Mole.     Mole. 

(Any  message  to  Ernst  or  Emmeline?) 

Yes.  Tell  Helen  to  give  them  my  love  and  love  to 
go  on  with  this     More  later.     More  later. 

(Do  you  remember  once  coming  to  my  house  to  visit?  It 
was  on  your  first —  No,  I  think  your  second,  visit  to  this 
country  ?) 

Didn't  you  and  I  go        go        to  hear  a  lecture? 

(Yes,  we  did.     Good.) 

Yes,  I  do  remember.  Do  you  remember  my  discussing  the 
problem  of  the  German  government?  What  are  you  all  doing 
that  you  do  not  answer?     Finish.     Finished. 

[Dr.  Borst  seemed  to  take  his  departure  at  this  point,  and 
the  pulse  and  respiration  of  the  medium  were  noted.  We  then 
resumed.] 

(Can  you  tell  me  more  about  my  niece,  Bessie  Beals?) 

She  says  she  is  very  glad  to  see  you  again  but  says  she 
thinks  you  do  not  TJD  about — 

(Write  clear.) 

Do  I  talk  as  fast  as  you  do?     She  has  not  got  all  those 
problems  worked  out  yet.     She  says  that  figure  she  saw  was 
that  Sunday  morning. 

[Mr.  Dorr  explains  that  Dr.  Hall  is  not  able  to  read  clearly.] 

Of  course  I  UD  that  perfectly,  George.  She  is  very  anxious 
to  speak  to  her  mother. 

(Good.  Her  mother  would  be  glad  to  get  any  message. 
You  did  not  say  much  to  her  last  time.  Can't  you  send  her 
a  message?) 

I  want  her  to  know  that  I  am  not  dead,  but  that  I  am  help- 
ing those  girls.     UD.     Girls.     Girls  with  their  studies — 

(What  girls  do  you  mean?)      [Dorr.] 

And  please  tell  her  she  need  not  worry  about  me.  I  UD 
why  I  was  troubled. 

(Oh,  how  beautiful!     Who  is  troubling  about  you?) 

[Hodgson  seems  to  break  in  in  response  to  some  unnoted 
remark  from  Mr.  Dorr.] 

195 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Don't  you  trouble  about  me,  George.  If  you  and  William 
do  not  stop  your  sceptic  remarks  about  me  I'll  give  you  a  good 
shaking  up  later  on. 

I  wish  to  get  this  remarks  to  her  people.     Do 

you  UD  my  message  to  mother?  To  her  people.  Tell  Mother 
I  do  I  do  wish  you  would  tell  her  not  to  keep  that  worrying 
about  me. 

(Worrying  about  whom?)     [Dorr.] 

(This  is  Bessie,  is  it?) 

I  UD  why  I  am  here  and  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  Mother's 
eyes  have  given  her  so  much  trouble.  Tell  her  I  will  help  her 
greatly. 

(Tell  me  something  that  happened  between  us,  can't  you? 
You  know  you  were  at  our  house  so  much,  and  I  helped  you 
all  through  college.) 

Yes,  but  do  you  remember  when  you  said.  You  come  to  me 
and  I'll  explain.     Did  you  read  my  writing? 

(Yes,  this  time  very  well.) 

You  did  not  use  to  like  it  I  remember. 

(Like  what?)      [Dorr.] 

Oh  dear,  what  is  the  matter  with  you  all?  Can't  you  UD 
I  wonder. 

(Like  what,  Hodgson?)    [asks  Mr.  Dorr,  again.] 

I  want  you  to  remember  what  you  said  about  my  UD 
and  how  I  worked  WORKED.  I  tried  to  show  my  appre- 
ciation. 

(What  did  you  use  to  call  me,  your  uncle?) 

[Hand  does  not  understand,  and  the  question  is  repeated, 
the  hand  writing  the  final  words.] 

Call  me.  Stick  to  me  and  let  it  come  when  I  go  out  I 
want  to  make  it  clear  that  I  cannot  go  on  forever.  I  want  to 
bring  her  back  with  me.    It  is  a  fine  girl. 

(Is  this  Bessie  Beals?) 

Yes.  She  is  too.  She  is!  You  UD.  You  are  all  right  I 
see.  [Addressed  to  Dr.  Tanner,  who  explained  the  above.] 
I  you  remember  The  ether  is  going 

out  fast. 

(Is  the  light  getting  tired?)      [Dorr.] 

Yes. 

196 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(Say  anything  that  comes  to  you  before  you  pass.  You 
■yourself,  Hodgson.)      [Dorr.] 

I  want  very  much  to  give  these  messages  clearly,  but  I  lost 
nearly  all  my  vigour  in  answering  those  questions. 

(Thank  you  very  much.  Dr.  Hodgson,  for  answering  those 
questions.)      [Tanner.] 

I  hope  to  get  these  clearer  for  her  some  day.  I  talk  them 
over  and  see  what  I  can  do.  I  mean  with  her.  Hall,  I  fear 
I  shall  have  to  take  my  leave. 

(Well,  Hodgson,  I  don't  want  to  tire  you.  I  know  I've 
worked  you  pretty  hard  and  I'm  much  obliged  to  you.  I  hope 
we  can  meet  again  soon.) 

When  do  we  meet  again?     Come  and  tell  me. 

[This  apparently  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Dorr,  and  a  conver- 
sation ensued  as  to  a  future  date,  between  Mr.  Dorr,  Dr.  Hall 
and  the  control.] 

(I  think  the  third  after  coming  will  be  best.)      [Dorr.] 

God  willing.     God  willing. 

(And  there  will  be  no  writing  on  Tuesday  so  that  the  Light 
may  be  fresh.)     [Dorr.] 

Better. 

(We  will  leave  it  so  then.)     [Dorr.] 

If  it  is  clear. 

(And  Dr.  Hall  will  come  on  the  third  after  coming.) 
[Dorr.] 

I  'see.  I  UD.  I  want  you  to  recall  that  medium  I  used  to 
talk  with  you  about,  Hall. 

(Next  time  I  want  you  to  tell  me  if  you  knew  Borst  your- 
self, Hodgson.     I  think  you  knew  him.) 

I  certainly  will.  That  first  experiment  used  me  up,  so 
to  say. 

(Pretty  fatiguing,  was  it?) 

Yes.     Don't  you  UD  about — 

I  want  you  to  recall  that  young  clergyman  Krebs  who  had 
light. 

(Wlio  do  you  mean  had  light?)      [Dorr.] 

Clergj'man  I  experimented  with  whose  wife 

was  so  distressed  I  told  you  all  about.  Don't  you  remember, 
Hall,  because  he  had  light.     I  told  you  about  him,  all  about 

197 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

him,  and  you  said  it  was  due  to  suggestion,  probably.  Do  you 
remember?    Do  you  remember — 

[Mr.  Dorr  suggested  that  we  had  better  stop  as  the  light 
was  tired.] 

Let  me  refresh  his  memory,  George,  for  further  experiment. 
Hall,  recall  if  possible.     Good-bye.     Auf  wiedersehen. 

Well,  you  listen  to  me  when  I  go.  Adieu.  Good-bye 
George.     Thank  you  very  much. 

-)-  We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessing  of  God  rest  on 
you.     -f  R. 

SUBLIMINAL 

There  were  indistinct  words  at  first,  and  then:  Mother 
finds  her  there — Mother'U  find — I  want  mother  to  have  them. 
My  photographs  are —  Uncle  Stan,  Stan —  Oh,  what  idiots! 
Can't  you  hear  me?  Hodgson — find  out  about  the  little  girls 
yet —  Ask  my  mother,  Hodgson  says  I  have  been  from  Osh- 
kosh  to  Timbuctoo  hunting  for  Borst.  I'll  find  out  next  time 
I  see  you.  I'll  bring  him.  up  to  continue  this  conversation. 
What  is  your  opinion  of  these  cosmic  laws?  Yes,  I've  been  in 
the  witness  box.     That's  all  right.     I  knew  it  would  be  so. 

[She  looked  very  intently  into  the  room  and  was  asked, 
Whom  are  you  looking  at?] 

I  was  coming  in  on  the  cord.  Very  dark,  very  dark  now. 
I  want  to  tell  you  about  Elizabeth. 

(Good,  that's  what  I  want  to  hear.) 

Where  are  they  all  gone  to? 

(We're  right  here.) 

[She  looks  very  intently  first  at  Dr.  Tanner  and  then  at 
Dr.  Hall] 

(You  don't  remember  me.) 

Wliat  makes  you  look  so  black? 

[She  looks  again  at  him  very  intently.] 

Oh! 

[Again :] 

(You  don't  remember  me  yet.) 

Yes.    You're  in  the  body.     I  do. 

(Do  I  look  black  now?) 

198 


SECOND    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

You?  [In  great  surprise.]  No!  Who  ever  said  you  did? 
Did  you  hear  my  head  snap? 

[A  dialogue  ensued  between  her  and  Dr.  Hall  as  to  the 
snapping.  Dr.  Hall  said  he  had  been  listening  to  hear  it 
snap,  and  she  seemed  to  think  that  that  was  a  ridiculous 
idea  and  asked  how  he  could  hear  it  when  it  was  in  her  head. 
He  asked  if  she  heard  it  in  her  ears,  and  she  replied  that 
it  was  in  the  top  of  her  head,  like  something  falling  down. 
insiAs. 

About  this  time  her  head  snapped  again.] 

She  still  looked  sleepy  but  knew  us  now  and  talked  very 
easily,  all  of  us  joining  in  a  general  conversation  about  her 
feelings  on  coming  out  of  the  trance.  She  has  been  under 
the  influence  of  gas  and  ether,  and  says  that  coming  out 
from  the  trance  is  much  like  coming  out  from  them.  Some- 
times she  has  sensations  of  falling,  and  people  at  first  look 
small  and  far  off.  She  is  also  inclined  to  be  voluble,  and 
Mr.  Dorr  says  that  if  she  is  asked  questions  at  this  time 
she  is  very  likely  to  say  things  that  later  she  is  sorry  for, 
about  sitters,  giving  information,  etc.,  showing  that  the 
usual  conventional  inhibitions  are  still  lacking. 

Dr.  Hall  then  explained  to  her  about  his  list  of  test 
words,  and  asked  her  if  she  would  be  willing  to  try  it  now, 
or  if  she  was  too  tired.  She  seemed  entirely  willing,  but 
Mr.  Dorr  was  reluctant.  He  said  that  she  was  still  a  little 
sleepy,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  take  her  before  a 
trance,  when  she  was  quite  fresh.  Dr.  Hall,  however,  said 
that  we  wanted  to  try  her  then,  too,  but  that  to  get  her 
after  the  trance  was  a  part  of  the  experiment.  He  went 
on  and  explained  the  test,  experimenting  with  Mr.  Dorr 
and  me  to  show  what  he  meant,  and  to  make  her  feel  at 
ease,  and  while  giving  the  series  all  of  us  at  times  talked 
between  words.  She  seemed  to  get  rather  embarrassed  and 
nervous  at  times,  and  now  and  then  she  appealed  to  Mr, 
Dorr,  when  she  said  she  got  no  word,  to  know  what  he  had, 
showing  that  she  realised  to  some  extent  that  probably  some 

199 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

sort  of  comparison  was  being  made  or  would  be  made  be- 
tween her  and  others/ 

The  variations  of  pulse  and  respiration  during  the 
trance  were  as  follows,  pulse  in  each  case  being  given  first : 

At  10.30,  84,  22. 

10.33,  84,  15. 

10.35,  10. 

11.16,  82,  8. 

11.55,  70,  10.     [Pulse  stronger  than  before.] 

11.57,  16.  [Respiration  16  when  she  begins  to  talk  in 
the  subliminal.] 

The  writing  ceased  at  11.54.  The  head  then  became 
restless,  tossing  about  on  the  pillow,  and  rising  a  little  with 
each  breath.  The  face  was  considerably  flushed  at  first  but 
soon  became  normal.  At  no  time  was  there  any  salivation. 
The  eyes  began  to  open  slowly  at  11.57,  without  winking. 
At  12.08  she  recognised  us  and  gave  our  names. 

1  See  Appendix. 


CHAPTER    XII 

SITTINGS    WITH    MRS.    PIPER:    THIRD    SITTING 

Dr.  Hall  and  Dr.  Tanner  were  again  met  at  the  station 
by  Mr.  Dorr,  and  on  the  way  over  to  Mrs.  Piper's  Dr.  Hall 
asked  various  questions  which  he  had  made  out  beforehand 
with  regard  to  the  trance  conditions.  First,  does  the  con- 
trol or  the  subconscious  mind  work  over  the  material  be- 
tween sittings?  ]Mr.  Dorr  did  not  give  his  own  opinion  on 
this  point,  but  said  that  Mr.  Piddington  had  told  him  that 
very  frequently  when  asked  a  question  the  control  did  not 
answer  it  at  the  time,  but  left  it  for  a  week  or  two  and 
then  gave  a  very  interesting  and  apt  answer,  while  if 
pressed  to  answer  at  once  the  answer  would  frequently  be 
meaningless.  (This  also  is  very  noticeable  in  the  unpub- 
lished series  which  Dr.  Tanner  has  been  studying.  It  seems 
to  be  Mr.  Dorr's  practice  to  give  the  control  a  word  or 
sentence  at  one  sitting,  with  the  injunction  to  think  it  over 
and  give  the  answer  either  in  the  subliminal  or  in  the  next 
sitting.  The  control  then  gives  either  references  to  the 
question  or  various  tentative  answers,  sometimes  extending 
these  references  and  answers  over  periods  of  even  five  or 
six  weeks  before  the  final  and  complete  answer  is  given.) 

Did  children  ever  communicate  through  Mrs.  Piper? 
At  first  Mr.  Dorr  did  not  recall  that  they  did,  but  later  he 
recalled  that  a  recent  sitter  had  had  children  come,  and  in 
some  of  the  published  sittings  collected  by  Hodgson  the 
baby  daughter,  three  years  old,  of  two  sitters,  came  again 
and  again  during  twelve  sittings. 

Did  any  stenographer  ever  take  all  the  notes  of  the  sit- 
ting, and  why  not?  Stenographers  have  been  brought  in, 
16  201 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Mr.  Dorr  said,  to  sittings,  but  the  controls  usually  object 
to  them  on  the  ground  that  they  bring  in  another  influence. 
The  objection  is  made  solely  on  the  ground  that  every  addi- 
tional person  tends  to  confuse  the  control,  and  not  on  the 
ground  that  there  is  any  objection  to  making  a  full  record. 

Can  she  be  called  back  at  any  stage  of  the  trance,  or  can 
she  be  awakened  at  any  time,  for  example,  by  a  shock? 
Mr.  Dorr  was  uncertain  with  regard  to  this.  He  seemed 
to  be  of  the  opinion  that  she  could  be  awakened  at  any 
stage  by  asking  the  controls  to  awaken  her,  but  that  if  she 
were  brought  out  of  the  trance  by  shock,  as  by  any  alarm- 
ing news,  it  would  have  a  tendency  to  make  it  difficult  for 
her  to  get  into  the  trance  next  time  and  perhaps  would 
make  the  trance  lighter.  He  thought  also  that  it  might 
injure  her  health  in  the  normal  state,  but  of  all  this  he 
could  not  speak  positively  since  the  thing  has  never  actually 
happened.  The  control  has  oftentimes  become  highly 
offended  with  sitters,  but  never  to  the  point  of  actually 
breaking  ofi:  the  sitting  with  them. 

Did  any  one  ever  try  fraud  or  foolery  with  her,  as,  for 
example,  bringing  in  a  living  person  as  if  dead?  Mr.  Dorr 
says  that  many  have  tried  foolery  and  sometimes  have  suc- 
ceeded splendidly,  and  other  times  have  failed.  Controls 
are  very  suggestible  and  very  willing  to  take  up  any  ideas 
presented  by  the  sitters,  so  that  they  can  be  very  easily 
taken  in. 

Can  the  trance  be  made  shorter  or  longer  or  deeper,  and 
how?  Mr.  Myers,  Mr.  Dorr  says,  tried  some  experiments 
along  this  line.  In  one  case  he  prolonged  the  trance  for 
about  four  hours  and  a  half,  and  she  was  then  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  m  coming  out  o±  the  trance,  and  he 
became  very  much  alarmed  for  fear  that  she  might  not 
come  out  of  it  at  all.  The  sittings  formerly  were  longer 
than  they  are  now.  As  said  above,  he  thinks  that  she  can 
be  awakened  at  any  time  by  appealing  to  her  controls. 

Has  Mrs.  Piper 's  husband  ever  returned  to  communicate 
202 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

with  her?  Mr.  Dorr  thought  that  he  had  come  back  once 
or  twice  or  perhaps  oftener  when  her  daughter  has  been 
having  a  sitting. 

Why  is  it  so  much  harder  for  her  to  come  out  of  the 
trance  than  it  is  to  get  in?  Mr.  Dorr  suggested  that  this 
was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  she  was  fatigued. 

What  is  the  best  way  to  make  appointments  with  her? 
The  way  which  has  been  usually  followed  is  for  the  sitter 
to  make  the  appointment  with  the  control  or  with  Hodg- 
son, of  late  years,  and  then  after  Mrs.  Piper  awakens  to 
tell  her  what  day  has  been  set  in  order  to  find  out  whether 
it  conflicts  with  other  sittings.  (Mrs.  Piper  in  the  waking 
state  says  expressly  that  she  makes  no  appointments,  mean- 
ing apparently  that  her  waking  self  makes  no  appointments. 
But  when  Mr.  Dorr  is  not  present  sitters  apparently  make 
appointments  which  are  kept  with  the  control.) 

Dr.  Tanner  was  under  the  impression  that  Hodgson  had 
been  married  when  young  and  that  his  wife  had  died 
shortly  afterward,  but  this,  it  proved,  was  not  so.  Dr. 
Hodgson  had  never  been  married,  but  was  engaged  when  a 
young  man,  and  his  fiancee  died.  It  was  in  connection  with 
her  that  his  interest  in  Spiritism  was  first  aroused.  One 
day  on  going  to  his  room  he  had  a  vision  of  this  girl,  very 
distinct  but  lasting  only  a  few  moments,  and  on  stumbling 
to  the  chair  beside  his  desk  he  saw  on  his  desk  an  envelope 
with  a  heavy  black  border,  which  proved  to  contain  the 
news  of  the  young  girl's  death.  It  was  his  conviction  that 
it  was  her  spirit  whom  he  had  seen,  but  we  were  left  un- 
certain whether  he  believed  that  he  had  subconsciously  seen 
the  black-bordered  envelope  and  reached  the  conclusion  that 
she  was  dead  first,  or  whether  he  believed  that  the  vision 
came  before  even  his  subconscious  mind  received  any  in- 
formation about  the  letter. 

This  throws  extremely  interesting  light  upon  Hodgson's 
attitude  with  regard  to  Spiritism.  From  the  published  rec- 
ords one  would  get  the  impression  that  Hodgson  was  at  the 

203 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

beginning  an  utter  sceptic  on  such  things,  and  was  even 
unsympathetic  in  his  attitude  toward  those  who  believed 
in  them,  whereas  this  shows  that  from  the  beginning  he  had 
tendencies  in  that  direction,  and  was  therefore  not  so  un- 
compromisingly critical  as  he  might  otherwise  have  been. 

Before  the  coming  on  of  the  trance  Dr.  Hall  made  a 
little  speech  in  which  he  said  to  Mrs.  Piper  that  we  had  a 
very  carefully  studied  out  plan,  and  he  hoped  that  she 
would  not  object  if  he  asked  her  various  questions.  She 
replied  that  he  could  ask  her  any  questions  he  chose,  and 
she  seemed  very  willing  to  answer  them.  Dr.  Hall  said  that 
of  course  all  of  us  hold  that  the  soul  survives  death.  We 
all  have  a  horror  of  annihilation,  and  we  cannot  but  believe 
in  immortality,  and  that  being  the  case,  all  the  differences 
are  minor  differences. 

At  this  point  Mr.  Dorr  interrupted  and  asked  whether 
Dr.  Hall  made  that  as  a  statement  of  his  own  personal 
belief,  and  whether  Dr.  Tanner  did.  Dr.  Tanner  said  that 
she  was  not  certain  that  she  would  state  it  in  quite  the  way 
Dr.  Hall  did,  and  Dr.  Hall  replied  that  he  had  been  brought 
up  in  Puritan  fashion,  and  that  for  himself  he  did  believe 
in  the  soul's  survival.  There  was  considerable  talk  at  this 
point  about  his  Puritan  ancestry  and  Mr.  Dorr's,  and  Mrs. 
Piper  told  an  anecdote  about  a  friend  of  hers,  who  heard 
various  other  people  boast  of  their  ancestry,  and  said  that 
her  own  great-grandfather  was  second  cousin  to  the  person 
who  is  never  mentioned  in  polite  society.  We  returned 
then  to  the  point,  and  Dr.  Hall  asked  Mrs.  Piper  if  she 
personally  believed  that  our  deceased  relatives  survive  and 
are  interested  in  our  welfare,  to  which  she  replied  with 
considerable  feeling  that  she  really  did  think  so. 

Second,  he  asked  her  if  she  read  spiritistic  literature, 
such  as  the  Banner  of  Life  and  the  Religio-Philosophical 
Journal,  and  if  she  attended  spiritistic  meetings  and  seances 
and  consulted  mediums.  She  replied,  as  if  somewhat  indig- 
nant, that  she  never  did  and  never  had  read  spiritistic  lit- 

204 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

erature,  that  she  had  never  attended  seances  regularly, 
and  that  even  when  she  went  to  consult  Cocke,  the  blind 
medium,  about  her  tumour,  she  did  not  attend  his  circle 
except  on  one  occasion.  She  enlarged  upon  this  at  consid- 
erable length,  evidently  feeling  somewhat  indignant  that 
Dr.  Hall  should  even  suppose  that  she  would  connect  her- 
self with  the  common  level  of  Spiritists.  Mr.  Dorr  men- 
tioned again  that  she  had,  however,  read  all  the  published 
proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 

Third,  Dr.  Hall  then  asked  her  if  she  was  ever  guided  in 
critical  choices  by  her  controls.  She  said  that  she  never  had 
believed  much  that  lost  articles  could  be  found  by  consulting 
the  controls,  and  this  she  did  not  do ;  but  when  Dr.  Hodgson 
was  alive,  whenever  possible,  he  consulted  the  controls  with 
regard  to  her  health  and  other  matters  of  her  living,  such  as 
going  on  trips,  etc.,  and  since  his  death  her  daughters,  at 
the  sittings  which  they  have,  consult  the  controls  sometimes 
for  the  same  purpose.  She  also  said  that  she  does  have 
premonitions  and  warnings  in  a  vague  way,  especially  with 
regard  to  illness.  She  has  oftentimes  felt  unaccountably 
depressed  at  such  times,  and  she  especially  cited  the  time 
before  her  daughters  came  down  with  the  measles,  when 
she  was  depressed  and  out  of  spirits  for  days  beforehand, 
and  the  doctor  said  that  he  had  never  seen  such  bad  attacks 
with  anybody  as  with  her  daughters,  and  that  they  were 
very  dangerous. 

As  a  rule,  she  says,  she  only  dreams  when  she  has  indi- 
gestion, but  she  has  on  at  least  two  occasions  had  dreams 
that  she  believes  came  true.  One  of  these  was  while  in  the 
hospital  after  one  of  her  operations,  and  related  to  condi- 
tions in  the  hospital  which  afterward  came  out  as  her  dream 
did;  and  on  the  night  of  Hodgson's  death  she  dreamed  of  a 
man 's  entering  a  tunnel.  She  did  not  see  his  face,  although 
he  had  a  beard  something  like  Hodgson 's.  She  was  greatly 
terrified  by  the  dream,  and  was  awakened  by  it,  and  told 
her  daughter  about  it.     They  did  not  hear  of  Hodgson's 

205 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

death  until  about  half-past  nine  that  morning,  and  then 
she  at  once  connected  her  dream  with  him.  She  had  never 
had  any  tendencies  to  sleep-walking  and  so  on. 

Fourth,  messages  sometimes  come  in  the  trance  for  peo- 
ple who  are  not  present  or  who  are  not  known  to  her. 
Asked  as  to  whether  she  did  not  feel  after  waking  a  sense 
of  responsibility  for  these  undelivered  messages,  she  said 
that  she  never  did.  But  this  is  very  natural  because  such 
messages  have  always  been  taken  care  of  by  Mr.  Hodgson 
when  he  was  alive,  or  now  by  Mr.  Dorr,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  complete  break  between  the  trance  and  the  waking 
stage  has  been  encouraged  through  her  having  always  a 
manager  on  hand.  If  her  secondary  personality  were  left 
like  Miss  Beauchamp's  without  anybody  to  carry  out  its 
desires,  might  it  not  after  a  time  make  itself  felt  in  her 
waking  state? 

Fifth,  she  was  also  asked  as  to  whether,  after  a  long 
interval  without  sittings,  she  tends  spontaneously  to  go  into 
trance,  but  she  said  that  she  did  not,  and  she  did  not  seem 
to  have  any  feeling  that  the  trances  tended  to  come  at  regu- 
lar intervals  or  in  any  rhythmic  order.  Nevertheless,  we 
ought  to  examine  into  this  somewhat  more,  because  it  would 
seem  altogether  likely  from  our  knowledge  of  other  cases 
of  secondary  personality  that  there  is  some  rhythm  about 
the  onset  of  the  trance  state.  May  it  not  be  that  her  dis- 
inclination to  give  sittings  the  latter  part  of  the  week 
indicates  some  such  rhythm? 

Sixth,  she  says  that  she  has  never  received  any  tele- 
pathic messages  either  from  living  or  dying  people  in  her 
normal  state. 

Seventh,  Dr.  Hall  then  entered  upon  a  series  of  ques- 
tions designed  to  find  out  whether  she  was  predominantly 
ear-minded  or  eye-minded.  She  said  that  she  remembers 
faces  a  great  deal  better  than  she  does  names,  that  she  is 
very  poor  at  names.  She  also  says  she  is  very  fond  of 
music  and  susceptible  to  voices,  but  she  is  also  very  fond 

206 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    TIPER 

of  pictures,  and  she  believes  that  she  can  match  colours 
from  memory.  If  she  had  to  choose  between  a  concert  and 
a  picture  gallery  she  says  she  would  find  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  choice,  but  she  would  go  to  an  opera  far 
sooner  than  she  would  go  to  a  theatre,  this,  of  course, 
because  the  opera  appeals  both  to  the  eye  and  to  the  ear 
more  than  the  theatre  does.  It  also  came  out  that  she 
is  unusually  fond  of  nature  and  appreciative  of  scenery. 
Mr.  Dorr  said  that  some  time  ago  she  visited  him  at  Bar 
Harbor,  and  that  he  thought  he  had  never  had  anybody 
there  who  appreciated  the  beauties  of  the  place  so  much 
as  she  did. 

Eighth,  Dr.  Hall  tried  to  explain  to  her  about  the  feeling 
of  deja  vu.  She  recognised  what  he  meant,  but  said  that 
she  herself  has  it  practically  not  at  all.  One  of  her  daugh- 
ters has  it  very  much,  and  is  always  referring  to  it.  Even 
in  reading  the  Proceedings  she  said  that  she  never  had  any 
feeling  that  she  had  ever  heard  of  any  of  the  things  there 
recorded. 

Ninth,  Dr.  Hall  then  asked  her  various  questions  de- 
signed to  find  out  whether  the  eye-centres  are  easily  shunted 
off  from  the  main  work  of  the  brain.  We  found  that  she 
goes  to  sleep  very  easily,  and  sleeps  readily  and  heavily; 
but  when  asked  as  to  whether  at  any  time  in  her  life  she 
had  acquired  the  habit  of  sleeping  lightly,  with  her  ear 
open,  as  it  were,  she  was  very  positive  that  she  never  had. 
She  never  was  obliged  to  stay  awake  when  her  children 
were  babies  because  she  always  had  a  nurse,  and  she  never 
took  care  of  anybody  through  a  long  illness  when  she  had 
to  be  awake  at  night  a  great  deal. 

Tenth,  various  interesting  facts  came  out  with  regard  to 
her  age  and  early  trance  states.  When  she  was  sixteen 
she  had  the  accident  with  the  ice-sled,  and  at  that  time 
she  was  struck,  not  on  the  head  but  on  the  knee,  and  was 
also  internally  injured,  the  doctors  supposed.  At  any  rate, 
not  long  after  this  the  ovarian  tumour  developed.     Her 

207 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

first  child  was  born  May  16,  1884,  and  her  first  trance  came 
June  29th,  about  six  weeks  later.  She  was  then  about 
twenty-five  years  old.  Her  second  child  was  born  sixteen 
months  later,  and  the  first  operation,  in  which  the  diseased 
Fallopian  tubes  and  ovaries  were  removed,  came  in  the 
spring  of  1893.  At  that  time  the  physicians  thought  that 
the  tumour  probably  was  caused  originally  by  the  accident 
with  the  sled,  but  they  could  not  say  certainly  because  the 
birth  of  the  children  might  have  had  something  to  do 
with  it. 

This  conversation  with  Mrs.  Piper  lasted  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  and  it  was  11 :  15  before  we  said  we  were 
through  with  our  questions  and  ready  for  the  trance.  At 
11 :  18  she  showed  signs  of  drowsiness  and  began  to  pass  into 
the  trance  with  much  the  same  symptoms  as  before.  At  11 :  24 
her  pulse  was  84  and  breathing  14  and  the  right  hand  was 
twitching.  At  11 :  27  the  hand  began  to  write  without  a  pen- 
cil, after  groping  vainly  for  one,  but  when  a  pencil  was  given 
it,  it  began  anew  with  the  usual  greeting: 

-f-  Hail.  We  return  once  more  to  earth  with  peace  and 
love.  +  (E.) 

Do  you  wish  me  to  bring  Hodgson  since  he  is  [This  was 
illegibly  written  and  repetition  was  called  for.]  Do  you  wish 
me  to  bring  Hodgson?     He  is  anxious  to  meet  you.     (R.) 

(Yes.) 

[The  hand  then  clutches  the  influences  tightly,  marking 
the  advent  of  Hodgson.] 

Hello.  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  once  more.  How  is  every- 
thing?   Did  you  get  my 

(Can  you  bring  back  Bessie  Reals  once  more?) 

Yes,  I  go,  I'll  go  and  find  her.  She  will  doubtless  be  con- 
scious of  your  desires  presently.  Desires.  Are  you  getting 
thoroughly  worked  out  in  your  mind  about  my  existence  and 
others'  Existence  [A  disconnected  word  follows  here  that 
may  be  Rah,  Rae,  or  Rob.  It  can  hardly  be  R  H.]  Dick. 
Rob. 

(Who  is  Rob?) 

208 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Rob.     Yes.     Wait  and  see.     Hello,  are  you  there 
I  am  glad  to  see  you.     Are  you  trying  to  waken  me.  Uncle  R, 
are  you  trying  to  waken  me — yes,  waken  me.    I  am  not  dead 
really  and  am  conscious  of  all  you  did  to  help  me. 

(Who  is  Uncle  R?) 

You  do  not  UD.  Wait  and  it  will  come  out  clearly.  This 
gentleman  is  helping  me  greatly. 

(What  gentleman?) 

Hodgson.  He  is  teaching  me  how  to  speak  with  you.  Did 
you  give  mother  my  message? 

(First  part  of  that  sentence  again,  please.) 

Did  you  give  mother  my  message  or  are  you  waiting  for 
more? 

(I  told  her,  and  she  was  very  grateful  and  happy  to  get  it, 
and  says  that  she  knows  the  girls  you  told  about,  and  that  she 
wants  to  meet  you  here  some  day.) 

[Hand  thumps  the  table.] 

Good,  that  is  just  what  I  want.  I  would  be  the  happiest 
of  girls  to  speak  with  my  dear  mother,  but  Uncle  to 

me.     Do   you   remember  Latin — Latin.     Was   I  not  grateful 
always?     I  want  to  help  and  I  am 

really  alive. 

(Your  mother  wants  to  know  if  you  get  angry  now,  and  if 
you  are  well?) 

I  said  no  before.  I  am  well  and  happy.  I  said  you  UD 
Latin  and  did  it  signify  my  meaning  of  thanks  to  you? 

(You  remember  your  Latin  then  ?  Now  let  me  say — '  Arma 
virumque — '     Can  you  give  the  next  word?) 

Give  me  time  and  let  me  UD  the  significance  of  my  coming 
here  and  I  will  answer  all  your  questions  every  one.  Do  you 
remember  telling  me  I  was  [not]  fitted  by  temperament  to 
teach — [short  indistinguishable  word]  fitted  by  temperament  to 
teach,  teach.  I  was  too  nervous  but  that  nervousness 
it  was  little  UD. 

(Well,  thank  you  very  much  for  coming,  Bessie.  Now,  can 
you  bring  Hodgson  back  again?) 

Yes,  and  I  will  think  up  my  other  experiences  to  tell  you 
when  I  return.  God  help  you  and  keep  you  well.  Love  to 
mother. 

209 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(Now,  I  should  like  to  ask  you  two  or  three  questions, 
Hodgson.     Are  you  there,  Hodgson?) 

[The  hand  cramps  intensely  and  violently,  and  writes  very 
heavily.]     Of  course  I  am.     I  never  left.     O.  K.     Fire  away. 

(I  want  to  talk  to  you  a  little,  Hodgson,  and  ask  you  a 
few  questions.  Can  you  tell  me  what  Mrs.  Piper  is  doing 
now?) 

She  is  talking  to  +• 

(Rector?) 

Yes. 

(What  is  her  address?) 

What — what  do  you  think  I  am  anyway?  I  can't  tell  you 
where  she  lives.    I  think  she  is  in  America. 

(Did  you  ever  try  to  come  back  through  any  other  medium  ?) 

Yes  indeed,  I  have  tried  many  times,  but  to  my  sorrow 
in  some. 

(Do  you  come  back  through  Rector,  or  are  you  talking 
directly  to  me?) 

I  am  under  the  direction  of  -\-  and  Imperator,  I  S  D. 
[Imperator,  servus  dei.] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  knew  Borst  very  well,  and  I  must  say  I 
am  rather  confused  about  you  and  him.  You  are  so  much 
like  him  that  it  almost  seems  to  me  that  you  are  Borst.  Can 
it  be  possible  that  you  have  made  a  mistake  and  that  this  is 
really  Borst?) 

Good  Lord,  what  are  you  talking  about,  Hall?  Are  you 
insane?     I  am  Hodgson,  Richard  Hodgson,  15  Charles  St. 

(Well,  but  you  can't  wonder  I  am  a  little  confused.  I  knew 
Borst  so  well  and  you  are  so  much  like  him.  Are  you  sure  you 
haven't  got  these  babies  mixed?) 

Stick  to  it  if  it  pleases  you.  I  am  willing.  Suppose  you 
call  me  Borst  and  him  Hodgson. 

(Well,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  one  thing,  Borst.  Aren't  you 
convinced  now  that  spiritualism,  which  you  ridiculed  so  much, 
is  true?) 

Of  course  I  am.  [Written  very  heavily,  with  a  long  pencil 
mark  underneath.]  I  am  as  sure  of  my  existence  as  you  are 
of  yours,  and  when  I  am  done  with  you  here  you  will  TJD  bet- 
ter.   Bundy.     Bundy.     B    BUMBYBUMBY 

210 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(Who  is  Bumby?) 

And  I  am  having  great  experiment  to  get  her  here. 

(Now,  Borst — I'm  going  to  call  you  Borst,  you  know — I 
wrote  to  your  wife,  and  gave  your  messages  to  her  and  to 
Ernst  and  Emmeline.  I  haven't  had  time  to  hear  from  her 
yet,  but  I  shall  soon.) 

What  are  you  talking  about?  I  never  sent  any  such 
messages. 

(Why,  don't  you  remember?  Last  time  you  gave  me  those 
messages.) 

You  must  excuse  me.     I  never  did  any  such  thing. 

(Well,  Hodgson,  didn't  you  know  Borst?) 

Oh,  yes.  I  will  call  him  for  you.  You  have  got  him  mixed 
up,  I  think,  with  me. 

(Oh,  but  I  think  you  have  made  the  mistake  and  are  really 
Borst.  You  are  too  much  like  him  not  to  be  Borst.  You  have 
made  the  mistake,  not  I.) 

Certainly  not.  I  am  Hodgson.  I'll  go  out  and  find  him 
for  you.     Good-bye. 

[Dr.  Hall  exclaims  to  Mr.  Dorr,  "  But  I  don't  want  him  to 
go.     I  want  him  to  stay,"  and  then,  to  the  control,] 

(Don't  go,  Hodgson.    Please  don't  go  yet.) 

I  can't  think  what  you  mean.     I  had  no  wife. 

(Well,  Hodgson,  if  it  really  is  you,  I'll  take  your  word  for 
it,  for  I  want  to  ask  you  some  more  questions.) 

I  think  it  will  be  better,  if  you  want  me  to  talk  with  you. 
Did  you  find  Krebs? 

(No,  I  haven't  found  him  yet.) 

Do  you  remember  my  telling  you  about  a  young  clergyman 
who  had  light  and  who  lived  in  Philadelphia? 

(I'll  try  to  find  him.  Now,  Hodgson,  may  I  ask  you  one 
or  two  more  questions?) 

Of  course. 

(I  want  to  ask  you  about  Mrs.  Piper.  Does  she  really  like 
to  be  a  medium,  do  you  think  ?) 

I'll  find  out  for  you.  I'll  ask  Rector  if  he  knows. — if  he 
knows. 

(I  wish  you  would.  I'd  like  very  much  to  know  if  she 
would  like  to  stop  if  she  could  or  if  she  really  likes  it.) 

211 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

[The  hand  seemed  to  be  questioning,  raising  itself  and 
bowing  and  questioning.] 

I  will  have  to  find  out  at  some  future  time.  He  is  looking 
after  the  machine  now.  Hall,  I  am  very  sorry  I  could  not 
have — Hall,  I  am  sorry  I  could  not  have  managed  things  better 
with  you. 

(You  have  done  very  well,  Hodgson.  But,  could  it  not  all 
be  expressed  as  secondary  personality,  instead  of  your  own 
self?) 

Not  in  the  slightest.  I  know  definitely  what  I  am,  and  I 
was  not  so  wrong  in  my  theories  after  all.  I  do  not  pretend 
to  move  mountains  or  seas,  either,  but  I  do  know  I  am  E.  H. 
and  I  have  met  John  H.  and  George  P.  both.  Suppose  you 
accept  the  truth  for  the  time  being  and  just  believe  I  am 
Hodgson.     We  should  get  on  just  as  well. 

(All  right,  I  will.     I  told  you  I  would.) 

I  can  UD  far  better  than  you  would  ever  be  willing  to  give 
me  credit  for  doing,  far  better — or  doing — I  am  not  in  the  least 
less  intelligent  here. 

(I  wish  you  could  tell  me  a  little  more  of  what  Mrs.  Piper 
is  doing.) 

I  would  gladly,  but  there  is  nothing  to  tell  really. 

(Hodgson,  Dr.  Hall  would  like  to  know  what  the  spirit  of 
Mrs.  Piper  is  doing  on  that  side.)      [Dorr.] 

She  first  passed  over  on  her  ethereal  cord  and  is  being  held 
here  by  I.  D.  S.  +  — held. 

(Is  her  spirit  conscious  over  there?)      [Dorr.] 

For  a  time  but  not  all  through.  When  it  meets  him  it  is 
conscious. 

(Is  it  happy?) 

Not  unhappy  by  any  means.  Not  unhappy  by  any  means. 
Correct, 

(Does  she  enjoy  coming  back  or  is  it  painful?) 

I  do  not  know  really  but  I  think  she  would  prefer  remain- 
ing here  when  the  power  ceases. 

(Will  you  tell  me  a  little  now  about  Mrs.  Piper's  body, 
where  she  is,  what  she  is  doing,  etc.  ?) 

Ask  me  anything  you  wish  about  it.  I  see  a  body  filled 
with  ether,  to  which  an  ethereal  cord  is  attached. 

212 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(May  I  give  you  some  more  words  now  for  reactions?) 

Yes,  but  I  wish  you  would  speak  a  little  more  distinctly 
than  last  time  and  slowly. 

[Reactions  followed  at  this  point.     See  Appendix.] 

(Now,  what  does  Borst  suggest  to  you?) 

Your  friend  whom  you  took  me  for. 

(Yes,  but  what  does  he  remind  you  of?) 

Capital  fellow. 

(What  does  Phinuit  suggest?) 

Spirit. 

(The  Watseka  girl?) 

No  good. 

(Well,  can  you  tell  me  whether  you  can  see  the  things  in 
this  room,  as,  for  instance.  Dr.  Tanner's  dress?) 

Oh,  no.    I  can  simply  see  a  light,  her  ethereal  body  only. 

(You  couldn't  tell  how  many  fingers  I  have  open,  or  any- 
thing of  that  sort,  could  you?) 

I  never  tried.  I  will  if  you  like.  I  don't  like  conditions 
in  your  room. 

[The  window  is  opened.] 

They  blind  me  very  much.     I  I  will  try. 

(All  right.     How  many  fingers  have  I  open?) 

I  could  not  tell  you,  for  I  only  see  one. 

(Can  you  see  colors?) 

Not  on  your  side  clearly. 

(No,  but  on  your  side?) 

Colors?     Oh,  certainly.     Hall,  you  are  in  a  dream. 

(Do  you  see  pictures  or  faces  over  there?) 

Oh — Oh,  distinctly.    Hello,  George. 

(Yes,  I'm  here.)      [Dorr.] 

(Do  you  have  music  over  there,  too?  Can  you  see  most  or 
hear  most?) 

You  see  and  hear  both  equally  well. 

(But  you  don't  see  things  here,  in  this  room?) 

Not  at  the  moment  while  I  am  in  the  act  of  communicating. 

(Can  you  tell  me  whether  you  see  or  hear  most  over  there?) 

Equally  well  both. 

(Do  you  sleep  or  dream  over  there?) 

No,  we  are  spirits,  not 

213 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(Do  you  take  pleasure  in  coming  back  here?) 

I  do  if  I  can  help  identify  myself  sufficiently  to  help  hu- 
manity or  the  world — if  I  can  identify  myself  sufficiently. 

(What  do  you  do  over  there?  How  do  you  spend  your 
time  ?) 

I  am  as  active  in  our  psychical  work  as  you  are  there  or 
as  I  ever  was. 

(Can  you  tell  me  any  new  things  you  have  found  out  over 
there?) 

Yes.  I  will  give  you  an  idea  of  what  I  have  experienced 
on  your  side,  but  it  will  take  time. 

(Mrs.  Eddy — what  does  she  suggest?) 

[Hand  hesitates.]     Don't 

(Oliver  Lodge?) 

My  friend  of 

(Rule  Britannia,  Britannia  Rule — what's  next?) 

Queen. 

(Arma  virumque ) 

All  right. 

(Tuusque  tandem ) 

Life. 

(Madam  Blavatsky.) 

Suffering  spirit.    Reformation  of  soul.     All 

[Appointment  was  then  made  for  the  following  Tuesday. 

At  this  point,  according  to  previous  agreement.  Dr.  Tanner 
left  the  room  and  after  a  minute  returned,  and  whispered  into 
Dr.  Hall's  ear  that  a  gas  pipe  was  leaking  in  the  other  room, 
but  that  it  was  being  fixed,  and  it  would  be  better  not  to  tell 
Mrs.  Piper.  Dr.  Hall  then  told  the  hand,  and  said  he  would 
better  not  tell  Mrs.  Piper,  but  that  when  she  came  out  of  the 
trance  she  would  want  to  see  to  it  at  once  herself.  It  was 
hoped  that  this  would  serve  as  a  post-hypnotic  suggestion.  A 
nod  to  Mr.  Dorr  showed  him  that  this  was  a  test. 

When  the  hand  was  told,  it  at  once  wrote,  with  many 
abbreviations :] 

I  want  you,  George,  if  anything  is  wrong  fix  it. 

[Mr.  Dorr  made  no  move,  and  again:] 

George,  if  anything  is  wrong  go  fix  it. 

[Mr.  Dorr  then  went  to  the  door,  and  opened  and  closed  it, 

214 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

remaining  in  the  room  and  stepping  quietly  back  to  his  place. 
Presently  some  movement  or  word  made  the  control  conscious 
that  Mr.  Dorr  was  still  there  and  the  hand  began  to  write, 
very  agitatedly,] 

Do  not  deceive  me  unless  you  wish  to  be  deceived. — Do 
not — if  you  deceive  you  will  suffer,  if  you  deceive.  I  dislike 
it  exceedingly  and  shall  refuse  to  return  if  you  continue,  if 
you  continue  to  deceive.    I  it.    You  cannot  deceive 

me  in  the  slightest. 

[Various  protestations  are  made.] 

Good-bye.  I  am  sorry  you  did  this,  I  am  very  you  did  this, 
sorry  you  did  this. 

[Mr.  Dorr  at  this  point  tries  to  explain  the  matter  to  Hodg- 
son, and  unfortunately  tells  him  that  we  were  trying  to  give 
a  post-hypnotic  suggestion,  thus  destroying  any  chance  of  its 
working.  But  to  some  degree  he  mollifies  the  control,  who 
writes :] 

I  UD,  but  I  do  not  see  how  it  serves,  but  if  you  do  all  right, 
better  not  trifle  with  the  light. 

[Reiteration  of  the  appointment  followed.] 

(We  shall  come  then  second  after  coming?) 

Perhaps. 

(Why,  is  not  that  right?) 

Wait  and  see.  We  are  going  now.  Good-bye,  Hall.  Hope 
you  are  wiser  than  before.     R.  H. 

[Dr.  Hall  thanks  Hodgson  again  for  all  his  trouble  and 
patience.] 

Do  not  trouble.     I  am  happy  as  ever.    Good-bye.     Adieu. 

+  We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessings  of  God  rest  on 
you+     (R.) 

SUBLIMINAL 

The  writing  ceased  at  once,  when  the  pulse  was  78  and 
breathing  12.  The  head  had  begun  to  rise  a  little  with  each 
breath.     Talking  began  at  1 :  06 : 

Hello,  Joe father father  and  I  are  coming all 

right  with  me — [many  words  lost  here].     I  see  mother my 

dear 0-o-o-oh 

[At  1 :  08  Dr.  Hall  tested  the  sensitiveness  of  the  right  and 
215 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

left  hands  by  pressing  rather  heavily  with  his  pencil  point,  but 
got  no  response.] 

Good-bye good-bye going [pained  expression,  al- 
most crying]. 

(Do  you  see  anything?) 

Cross light aches — aches. 

(Where?) 

Aches. 

(What  aches?) 

[She  touches  her  arm  and  hand,  but  not  where  the  pencil 
pressed.] 

[Looking  at  Dorr.]     Don't  like  you 0-o-oh,  it's  a  room. 

[Looking  at  Dr.  Tanner  intently.]  Yes.  Owl's  eyes.  [Again 
looking  at  Dr.  Tanner,  who  asks  if  she  knows  her.] 

Oh,  I  know  you. 1  think  you're  writing  down  questions 

for  a  gentleman  asked  me. 

(Do  you  know  my  name?)     [Tanner.] 

No,  I've  never  been  introduced.  [She  had  been  of  course 
and  had  heard  the  name  repeatedly.] 

Did  you  hear  my  head  snap? 

The  conversation  then  became  general  and  no  notes  were 
taken  on  it.  Mrs.  Piper  says  that  she  does  not  feel  refreshed 
after  her  trance,  and  in  fact  has  no  characteristic  feeling.  It 
does  not  make  her  more  tired,  nor  does  it  affect  her  sleep  unless 
it  comes  too  frequently.  She  never  has  any  idea  of  how  long 
it  has  lasted,  and  of  course  she  had  no  idea  what  time  it  then 
was.  It  was  then  about  1 :  30.  We  had  been  with  her  for 
full  three  hours,  but  the  trance  itself  lasted  only  from  11 :  15 
to  1:00. 

COMMENTS  ON  THIRD  SITTING 

The  latter  part  of  this  sitting  was  due  to  an  imperfectly 
thought-out  plan  that  we  had  formed  for  testing  Hodg- 
son's suggestibility.  Looking  back  upon  it  now,  it  is  very 
evident  that  we  did  not  lead  up  gradually  enough  to  the 
idea  that  he  was  mistaken  in  his  own  identity,  nor  realise 
that,  however  suggestible  a  secondary  personality  may  be, 
after  it  has  been  in  training  for  twenty-odd  years  on  one 

216 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

hypothesis  it  will  not  change  to  another  off-hand,  especially 
to  one  which  would  put  it  out  of  existence  forthwith. 

Assuming  that  the  Hodgson  control  is  only  one  phase 
of  Mrs.  Piper's  secondary  personality,  let  us  try  to  see  how 
it  could  come  to  believe  in  itself  as  Hodgson. 

We  have  on  record  various  cases  of  the  birth  of  sec- 
ondary personalities,  such  as  Mrs.  Verrall's,  described  later, 
and  Miss  Beauchamp's,  described  in  Prince's  book,  the 
*'  Dissociation  of  a  Personality."  In  such  cases,  the  per- 
sonality is  at  first  very  shapeless,  and  the  utterances  are 
fragmentary,  nonsensical,  etc.  But  by  degrees,  in  response 
to  the  questionings  of  the  sitter  or  of  the  person 's  own  self- 
consciousness,  the  secondary  personality  gives  itself  a  name, 
and  sometimes  a  birth  place  and  family  history,  and  when 
confronted  with  falsities  and  contradictions  in  its  account 
of  itself  it  shifts,  evades,  etc.,  very  much  as  Phinuit  did. 
But  the  point  of  especial  importance  here  is,  that  the  form 
which  the  personality  takes  depends  upon  the  environment 
into  which  it  has  come,  the  attitude  taken  toward  it  by  the 
person  and  her  friends,  etc. 

We  have  already  noted  that  in  Mrs.  Piper's  case  her 
surroundings  favoured  strongly  the  development  of  her  sec- 
ondary personality  according  to  the  spiritistic  hypothesis, 
and  that  Phinuit  was  very  similar  to  the  control  of  the 
ordinary  medium  in  his  characteristics.  We  have  also  noted 
the  emergence  and  development  of  the  Pelham  control  and 
the  Imperator  group  along  the  lines  desired  by  the  Re- 
searchers. We  need  only  carry  this  a  step  further  to  under- 
stand that  it  is  inevitable  that  as  various  Researchers  die 
they  will  appear  at  Mrs.  Piper's  sittings,  especially  those 
whom  she  knew  best  and  who  were  most  inclined  to  believe 
in  her.  So  we  find  Myers,  an  ardent  Spiritist,  and  one 
profoundly  impressed  by  Mrs.  Piper,  taking  the  manage- 
ment of  what  might  be  called  the  educational  tests,  while 
Dr.  Sidgwick,  who  seems  to  have  been  of  a  much  more 
cautious  and  sceptical  temperament  than  Myers,  has  not  as 
17  217 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

yet  made  an  appearance  in  any  published  record  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  sittings,  nor  has  Gurney,  whom  Mrs.  Piper  did  not, 
I  think,  know. 

In  all  these  cases,  whatever  may  have  been  the  private 
doubts  of  the  Researchers,  the  attitude  toward  the  control 
has  been  deliberately  one  of  sympathy  and  confidence,  be- 
cause in  this  way,  it  has  been  believed,  the  best  messages 
could  be  obtained.  The  effect  upon  the  controls,  therefore, 
especially  since  the  Pelham  sittings  of  1892-1893,  has  been 
to  give  them  ever-increasing  confidence  in  their  own  exist- 
ence independent  of  Mrs.  Piper.  Everything  in  the  sit- 
tings, even  the  criticisms,  proceeds  upon  the  assumption 
that  these  personalities  are  real  selves,  and,  being  in  reality 
only  the  products  of  suggestion,  how  can  they  escape  be- 
lieving in  themselves  just  as  others  do,  especially  since, 
down  at  the  bottom  of  Mrs.  Piper's  subconscious  mind, 
must  be  the  conviction  that  her  living  and  reputation  de- 
pend upon  acceptance  of  the  controls  as  spirits. 

We  get  into  strange  mazes  here.  From  this  standpoint 
the  controls  are  really  honest  in  making  their  claims,  but 
are  mistaken,  and  the  Hodgson  control  is  one  of  the  best 
illustrations  of  this  sincere  mistake.  We  know  that  for 
many  years  before  his  death  the  germ  had  probably  lain 
dormant  in  the  medium's  mind  that  after  Hodgson's  death 
he  would  appear  and  take  control  of  her  as  others  had  done 
before.  Now  Hodgson  dies,  suddenly,  and  that  night,  be- 
fore learning  of  his  death,  I\Irs.  Piper  had  a  terrifying 
dream  of  a  man  killed  in  a  railroad  tunnel,  with  a  beard 
like  Hodgson's.  The  next  morning  she  hears  of  the  death, 
and  at  once  believes  that  her  dream  was  a  telepathic  one. 
This  strengthens  her  deep-lying  conviction  that  Hodgson 
will  return.  Eight  days  later,  at  the  sitting  of  a  close 
friend  of  Hodgson's,  when  Rector  was  writing,  the  hand 
suddenly  dropped  the  pencil,  worked  convulsively,  and  then 
wrote  the  letter  "  H,"  breaking  the  pencil  point  with  the 
heavy  pressure,  and  then,  "  Hodgson." 

218 


THIRD    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

*'  God  bless  you!  "  exclaimed  Miss  Pope,  the  sitter. 
The  hand  then  wrote,  **  I  am  Hodgson,"  and  when  Miss 
Pope  asked,  "  Is  this  my  friend?  "  assented  by  rapping 
five  times.  Rector  tlien  explained  that  Hodgson  could  not 
stay  longer  this  first  time,  and  referred  to  a  ring. 

Thus  the  Hodgson  control  was  born,  and  thereafter  he 
appeared  at  nearly  every  sitting  and  rapidly  gained  co- 
herence, though  Professor  James  says  frankly  that  he  has 
not  been  able  to  give  really  evidential  tests  that  it  is  Hodg- 
son, and  we  have  already  seen  that  while  in  England,  out 
of  the  sphere  of  Mrs.  Piper's  possible  knowledge,  he  did 
not  recognise  his  own  friends.  If  she  could  be  taken  to 
Australia  probably  the  case  would  be  still  worse. 

But  just  here  I  wish  to  emphasise  the  joy  and  belief 
with  which  he  was  greeted  at  his  first  appearance,  and  the 
fact  that  the  policy  has  constantly  been  to  seem  to  believe 
him.  This  has  not  been  the  case  with  most  secondary 
personalities,  nor  even  with  some  of  the  Piper  controls. 
Phinuit  was  permanently  retired,  Pelham  was  doubted  a 
long  time.  Sally  Beauchamp  fought  stoutly  for  her  exist- 
ence before  agreeing  to  commit  psychic  suicide. 

This  originally  amorphous  self  then  has,  from  the  very 
beginning,  been  trained  in  the  belief  that  it  is  a  spirit 
manifestation,  so  that  it  is  entirely  possible  if  not  probable 
that  it  itself  accepts  the  belief.  Such  a  hypothesis  is  natu- 
rally much  more  grateful  to  the  secondary  personality  than 
Prince's,  with  its  consequent  suppression  and  repression, 
because  it  exalts  the  subconsciousness  and  encourages  its 
inroads  upon  the  normal  self.  It  does  its  best,  therefore,  to 
live  up  to  the  demands  made  upon  it,  hot  from  any  rea- 
soned-out  plan,  but  with  the  blind  instinct  of  the  most  rudi- 
mentary life  to  grow,  and  expand,  rather  than  painfully  to 
remain  inactive  and  atrophy.  Nourished  by  the  sympathy 
and  suggestion  of  the  sitters,  it  has  grown  apace,  and  it  is 
an  open  question  now  whether  the  twenty-odd  years  of 
training  have  not  given  it  so  much  memory  and  sense  of 

219 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

individuality  and  independence  that  disbelief  in  it  and  dis- 
couragement of  it  would  have  little  effect,  even  if  they 
came  from  sitters  of  long  standing. 

From  this  standpoint,  it  is  surprising  to  note  the  com- 
parative meekness  with  which  the  control  submitted  to  our 
various  experiments  and  to  our  final  revelations  of  his  fail- 
ures. He  did,  indeed,  get  very  angry  two  or  three  times, 
but  it  was  the  anger  that  blusters  and  threatens,  not  the 
natural  impatience  and  irritation  which  a  man  like  Hodg- 
son might  feel  for  sceptics  whom  he  could  not  convince. 

One  characteristic  thing  about  this  sitting  is  the  number 
of  feelers  thrown  out.  There  are  the  doubtful  words :  Rah 
or  Rae,  Dick,  Rob,  Uncle  R.,  Bumby,  another  reference  to 
Krebs,  John  H —  and  George  P — ,  and  in  the  subliminal, 
Joe.  If  we  were  inclined  to  believe  in  spirits  we  might  say 
that  Rob  is  Dr.  Hall's  son,  and  Uncle  R.  his  Uncle  Robert, 
for  whom  he  was  named.  It  is  quite  probable  that  Uncle  R. 
was  there  at  the  sitting,  and  that  he  was  the  one  who  sum- 
moned Bessie,  for  Bessie  says  when  she  first  appears,  *'  Are 
you  trying  to  waken  me.  Uncle  R.  ?  "  Of  course  the  sceptic 
will  say  that  in  the  next  sentence  she  is  evidently  talking 
to  Dr.  Hall,  but  to  this  Hyslop  would  answer  that  we  do 
not  appreciate  the  lifelikeness  of  the  dialogue.  Bessie  says 
the  first  sentence  to  Uncle  R.  in  the  spirit  world,  then  she 
turns — if  spirits  can  turn — and  addresses  herself  in  the 
next  to  Dr.  Hall  on  this  side. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

SITTINGS    WITH    MRS.    PIPER:    FOURTH    SITTING 

Mr.  Dorr  was  out  of  town  this  time,  and  so  we  con- 
ducted the  sitting  ourselves  and  had  no  trouble.  We  had 
first  a  long  talk  with  ]\Irs.  Piper  of  fully  an  hour,  in  which 
we  felt  that  we  really  got  somewhat  acquainted  with  her 
herself.  It  was  impossible  to  take  full  notes  of  this,  but  the 
gist  of  it  is  as  follows : 

The  conversation  drifted  to  her  own  feelings  about  her 
trance,  and  she  said  that  when  it  first  began  she  fought 
against  it,  partly  because  she  thought  that  it  might  indicate 
hysteria  or  some  other  abnormality,  and  partly  because  it 
felt  disagreeable.  She  used  to  have  sensations  of  falling 
whenever  she  went  into  it  that  made  her  afraid,  but  now 
she  does  not  have  them.  In  coming  out  there  is  a  stage 
of  exhilaration,  followed  by  one  of  depression.  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  period  of  some  years  in  the  early  days 
when  she  was  not  sure  to  what  her  trance  was  to  be 
attributed. 

She  also  feels  that  the  conditions  under  which  she  was 
placed  at  this  time  were  unfavourable  to  the  best  develop- 
ment of  the  trance.  She  and  her  husband  were  living  with 
his  parents,  and  her  father-in-law  was  an  ardent  spiritual- 
ist, and  urged  her  to  go  to  seances  and  to  develop  her 
power.  She  thinks  that  the  Phinuit  personality  came  as  the 
result  of  her  surroundings.  She  never  liked  him,  and  this 
was  one  reason  why  she  hated  to  go  into  the  trance.  She 
is  uncertain  what  Phinuit  was,  but  is  sure  that  he  was  not 
a  secondary  personality.  She  thinks  that  perhaps  he  is 
some  spirit  who  never  was  in  the  body,  and  who  has  little 

221 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

power  on  the  other  side.  The  change  to  the  Pelham  and 
Imperator  personalities  seems  to  have  been  coincident  with 
her  reaching  the  conviction  that  the  trance  was  good,  and 
that  she  was  in  truth  a  medium. 

Dr.  Hall  asked  various  questions  designed  to  find  out 
how  her  mind  works  in  every-day  life.  She  thinks  that  in 
coming  to  an  important  decision  she  does  differently  at 
different  times,  but  sometimes  she  does  decide  on  the  im- 
pulse of  the  moment.  For  instance,  she  may  make  up  her 
mind  suddenly  to  take  a  journey,  put  on  her  hat  and  start 
off  at  once.  Similarly  she  says  that  she  comes  to  conclu- 
sions about  people  in  different  ways,  but  she  does  make 
up  her  mind  quickly  and  on  slight  grounds.  For  instance, 
she  says  that  if  she  is  in  a  room  full  of  people,  talking  to 
some  one,  she  may  overhear  others  talking,  and  she  will 
make  up  her  mind  at  once  that  she  will  like  one  person  and 
dislike  another,  on  account  of  their  voices.  She  feels  that 
she  can  tell  by  the  voice  whether  a  person  is  sincere  or  not, 
and  she  has  said  before  that  she  is  very  sensitive  to  voices. 

This  is  very  significant  in  its  bearing  on  the  trance,  and 
may  be  one  of  the  important  avenues  by  which  to  connect 
the  trance  and  normal  states.  The  control  now  gets  all  his 
knowledge  of  the  sitter  through  the  ear,  and  if  Mrs.  Piper 
gets  many  of  her  impressions  similarly,  and  especially  of 
her  likes  and  dislikes,  it  is  interesting  to  know  it. 

She  says  also  that  she  has,  naturally  enough,  been  made 
rather  suspicious  of  people  by  her  experiences  as  a  medium, 
meeting  insincerity,  arrogance,  and  so  on,  and  that  only 
her  firm  faith  in  God  has  made  it  possible  for  her  to  endure 
all  that  she  has  had  to.  She  spoke  with  much  feeling  here, 
and  referred  to  insincerity  at  various  times,  saying  that 
in  some  cases  sitters  had  tried  to  deceive  the  trance  per- 
sonalities, and  had  also  pretended  to  her  that  they  were 
believers  when  they  were  not. 

I  asked  her  if  it  was  necessary  to  be  a  believer  in  order 
to  get  good  results,  and  she  said  of  course  not,  and  I  then 

222 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

asked  a  question  as  to  how  much  experimenting  might  be 
done  with  the  trance  personalities,  in  answer  to  which  she 
said  that  anything  could  be  tried.  The  point  was  made 
along  here,  that  if  we  explained  either  to  the  controls  or 
to  her  what  we  were  trying  to  get  we  should  spoil  the  re- 
sults, and  she  virtually  gave  us  carte  blanche  to  do  as  we 
pleased. 

Nevertheless,  I  feel  quite  confident  that  she  cherishes 
resentment  against  persons  who  have  tried — perhaps  suc- 
cessfully— to  deceive  the  controls,  and  naturally  enough, 
because  it  must  shake  her  faith  in  the  controls  besides  mak- 
ing her  conscious  that  it  lays  herself  open  to  the  charge 
of  being  an  impostor. 

In  this  connection,  too,  came  up  the  question  of  sec- 
ondary personalities,  and  the  opinion  that  various  people 
had  held  with  regard  to  the  trance.  I  said  that  I  had  not 
adopted  the  spiritistic  hypothesis  and  did  not  know  that 
I  should,  and  there  was  considerable  talk  about  the  theory 
of  secondary  personalities.  Dr.  Hall  told  at  some  length 
about  two  other  mediums,  and  asked  Mrs.  Piper  if  she  did 
not  think  that  he  had  done  wisely  in  advising  one  to  give 
up  mediumship.  She  said  very  frankly  that  if  she  kept 
on  she  might  become  insane,  and  cited  the  case  of  a  daugh- 
ter of  a  friend  in  England  who  wanted  to  cultivate  auto- 
matic writing,  but  whose  mother  was  afraid  to  have  her. 
She  also  gave  the  case  of  a  young  girl  known  to  a  certain 
psychologist  who  seems  to  have  become  possessed  by  it,  but 
fought  against  it,  and  was  advised  by  him  to  let  it  come. 
I  asked  her  about  Miss  Verrall  and  she  seemed  to  think 
that  she  was  well  enough  balanced  to  stand  it,  and  re- 
ferred to  herself  as  being  well  balanced,  and  so  able  to  stand 
it,  too. 

We  then  turned  to  talk  of  her  future.  Dr.  Hall  asked 
her  if  she  had  any  desire  to  give  up  the  work,  and  if  she 
was  not  glad  when  summer  came  and  she  could  take  a  vaca- 
tion.    He  spoke  also  of  spring  depression,   and  she  said 

223 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

that  she  always  felt  that  very  much,  and  the  only  way  that 
she  could  overcome  it  was  by  taking  long  walks  and  staying 
in  the  fresh  air  as  much  as  possible.  She  seems  to  be  very 
sensitive  to  this  need  of  air,  and  this  suggests  that  there 
may  be  some  close  connection  between  her  breathing  and 
her  trance. 

With  regard  to  her  future,  the  controls  have  said  at 
various  times  that  ''  the  light  "  may  fail  at  any  time,  and 
so  she  looks  forward  to  a  time  when  she  will  no  longer  be 
able  to  do  this  work.  She  does  not  know  whether  the  power 
will  fail  suddenly  or  gradually,  but  until  it  does  go  she 
expects  to  continue  at  it,  apparently  believing  very  sin- 
cerely that  she  has  a  mission  to  perform  which  she  must 
not  shirk  even  though  it  is  at  times  disagreeable.  She  is 
very  glad  when  summer  comes,  for  then  she  gets  into  the 
country  for  four  or  five  months  and  does  nothing  of  this 
sort  at  all. 

We  also  referred  to  the  cross-correspondence  messages, 
for  which  Mrs.  Piper  seems  to  have  an  admiration  abnost 
amounting  to  awe.  Dr.  Hall  recalled  to  her  Dr.  James's 
saying  that  she  was  his  white  crow,  and  had  made  science 
prostrate  in  the  dust  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  which  evi- 
dently pleased  her  greatly. 

Dr.  Hall  asked  her  whether  she  had  any  preference  for 
one  class  of  sitters  over  another,  to  which  she  replied  that 
she  never  knew  beforehand  what  they  came  for,  though 
often  after  the  sittings  they  told  her  what  they  had  re- 
ceived. She  said  that  it  made  no  difference  to  her  what 
they  wanted. 

When  in  England  last  time  she  tried  crystal  gazing  a 
little,  and  saw  in  the  crystal  a  man  being  run  over.  On  her 
return  to  New  York,  while  she  and  her  daughters  were 
driving  up  the  pier,  they  saw  a  cab  pass  over  the  leg  of  a 
man,  which  made  her  think  that  this  was  what  the  crystal 
was  foretelling.  She  has  not  practised  crystal  gazing  much, 
and  gave  no  other  examples. 

224 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

Dr.  Hall  also  tried  to  hypnotise  Mrs.  Piper,  who  said 
she  was  very  anxious  to  try  it,  but  did  not  succeed. 

At  the  end,  reference  was  made  to  the  attitude  of  many 
people,  and  especially  of  the  Catholic  Church,  toward  Spir- 
itism. Dr.  Hall  told  her  that  this  church  has  been  sending 
out  lecturers  against  it  as  a  special  child  of  the  Devil.  This 
seemed  both  to  disturb  and  anger  Mrs.  Piper,  and,  as  the 
first  sleepiness  of  the  trance  began  to  come  on,  she  told  him, 
in  rather  an  angry  tone,  to  bring  "  that  priest  "  to  see  her. 
She  also  reverted  to  the  theory  of  secondary  personality, 
as  if  it  disturbed  her  to  think  that  I,  or  we,  were  inclined 
to  it,  and  asked  if,  in  that  case,  all  these  things  were  jiLst 
her  own  self  "  cavorting  around."  She  also  asked  why 
her  head  always  feels  heavy  when  she  begins  to  go  into  the 
trance. 

[She  began  to  go  into  the  trance  at  11 :  32  and  her  head 
dropped  to  the  pillow  at  11 :  41.  At  11 :  42  the  hand  began 
writing  without  a  pencil,  "  Hail,"  and  when  given  a  pencil 
continued,] 

We  greet  you  once  again  with  peace  and  joy.  +     (R.) 

(Is  Hodgson  there,  or  can  you  bring  him  ?) 

Prudens  will.     I'll  send  him.     Prudens. 

[The  hand  then  cramped  violently  to  the  shoulder,  and 
wrote :] 

Tell  Hall  I'm  here  again.  Glad  to  see  you.  I  am  here  the 
same  Hodgson  himself. 

(Hodgson,  I'm  very  glad  to  see  you  again.  I  want 
to ) 

I  was  very  much  annoyed  with  you  before  because  of  your 
rapid  speech  and  persistent  [pause]  doubt  [pause]  with  regard 
to  my  identity.  What  on  earth  do  you  think  I  am  doing, 
anyway  ? 

(That's  all  right,  Hodgson.  I  think  I've  got  over  that  now. 
Now,  I  want  to  ask  you  to  write  very  plainly  and  slowly  to-day, 
for  Mr.  Dorr  is  not  here  and  we  cannot  read  the  writing  well. 
[The  hand  bows  assent  and  understanding.]  Now,  last  time 
you  recognised  that  Mr.  Dorr  was  here,  and  you  seem  to  know 

225 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

what  people  are  here.  Can  you  tell  me  what  people  are  here 
now?) 

I  see  another  light.  Resembles  light.  Resembles  a  lady, 
lady. 

(Can  you  tell  me  how  that  lady  looks?  How  she  is  dressed? 
Anything  at  all?) 

No,  not  at  the  moment.  I  would  be  obliged  to  go  out  and 
get  a  look  at  her  from  a  distance. 

(Distance  ?) 

I  said  so.  Hall,  I  am  really  R.  Hodgson.  I  am  not  here 
for  any  frivolous  talk,  frivolous  talk.  I  can  help  you  here  to 
help  you  to  know  the  truth.) 

(Yes,  Hodgson,  and  that  is  what  I  am  after,  too.  Now,  I 
want  you  to  tell  me  something  about  Mrs.  Piper,  the  normal 
not  the  spirit  Mrs.  Piper;  where  she  lives,  what  about  her 
daughters,  and  so  on.) 

I  cannot   tell  you   anything,  cannot  tell,   cannot [In 

answer  to  a  question  as  to  what  a  certain  word  was — ]  I  never 
used  poor  language.  I  cannot  tell,  cannot  tell  you  anything 
about  her. 

(Tell  me  about  her  spirit  then:  where  it  is  and  what  it  is 
doing.) 

+  It  has  been  removed  over  the  ethereal  cord  and  is  being 
held  by  -f-  i.  s.  d. 

(Well,  Hodgson,  the  last  time  you  found  Bessie,  my  niece, 
and  Borst.  Now,  how  did  you  find  them  among  so  many? 
That  has  always  troubled  me.) 

I  summoned  our  chief  messenger,  Prudens,  chief,  chief.  He 
went  at  once  and  went  through  the  throng  calling  for  Miss 
Beals,  when  a  young  woman  heard  his  call  and  responded,  com- 
ing back  with  him  to  the  open  window. 

(Now,  when  you  found  Bessie,  she  spoke  of  Uncle  Robert. 
Can  you  tell  me  anything  of  that?) 

She  said,  "  If  my  Uncle  is  really  here,  he  will  UD  what 
that  means." 

(I  see.  Very  good.  But  can't  you  tell  me  something  about 
Uncle  Robert?) 

You  seemed  not  to  recognize  it,  much  to  her  distress.  You 
seemed 

226 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(No,  but  I  do  now,  very  clearly,  and  I  think  it  is  one  of 
the  most  important  things  that  has  come  out.) 

She  also  said  [illegible  word]  to  which  you  paid  no  atten- 
tion.    Said   [illegible  word]. 

(Latin?) 

Yes,  about  your  Latin.  You  quoted,  quoted  some  Latin 
from  .^neid  which  she  replied  to  but  you  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  it. 

[Dr.  Hall  had  quoted  arma  virumque  in  the  course  of  the 
third  sitting,  to  Hodgson,  but  he  gave  no  answer  at  all.] 

(Yes,  very  well,  but  now,  won't  you  tell  me  something  about 
Uncle  Robert,  who  he  was  and  what  he  did?) 

She  brought  him  to  you  and  was  telling  him  of  your  pres- 
ence.   He  is  and  you  UD. 

(Where  did  he  live  and  what  was  his  last  name?) 

Bay  Hall. 

(Where  did  he  live?) 

Bay. 

(Back  Bay?)     [Possibly  bag.] 

Oh,  no.     Bay. 

(What  was  his  business?) 

Book  some  crime,  justice. 

(Crime?) 

Yes.     Leg  lame. 

(What  does  that  mean?     Leg  lame?) 

Yea  leg,  right. 

(Lame  in  the  right  leg?) 

Yes,  and  leg,  wasn't  broken  but  rheumatism  in  body. 

(Anything  about  his  nose?     He  broke  his  nose,  really.) 

Yes. 

(Did  he  break  his  leg,  too?) 

[Gesture  of  the  hand  signifying  that  he  fell  over  backward.] 

I  see  [illegible  word]  is  listening. 

(What  is  that  word  please?) 

Father.     I  see  your  father.     [Hand  points  to  Dr.  Tanner.] 

(My  father?     Is  my  father  here?)      [Dr.  Tanner.] 

I  do.  I  do.  Why  don't  you  UD  ?  I  say  I  saw  him.  Saw 
him. 

(Is  he  living  or  dead?) 

227 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Dead,  what  are  you  talking  about  nothing  ever  dies  really 
but  he  is  in  the  spirit. 

(Now  I've  caught  you,  Hodgson.  You're  wrong.  He  is 
living.) 

I  say  he  is  living.  Nothing  ever  dies  I  say.  Dead,  no  such 
thing,  no  such  thing.  You  do  not  UD.  Catch  me  and  you 
will  catch  a  white  blackbird.  Blackbird.  [Cf.  with  Dr.  Hall's 
reference  before  the  trance  to  James's  phrase  for  Mrs.  Piper, 
"  white  crow."]  I  am  the  most  wide-awake  creature  you 
ever  saw. 

(Yes,  I  see  you  are,  Hodgson,  but  now  I  should  like  to 
have  you  tell  me  whether  it  is  easy  or  difficult  for  you  to  come 
back.     Is  this  hard  work,  or  is  it  just  play  for  you?) 

I  never  get  tired.  I  lose,  lose  control  owing  to  owing, 
OWING  to  evaporation  of  ether,  ether,  but  fatigue  is  not 
known  to  me.  Go  on  with  your  questions.  I  wanted  to  tell 
her  a  bit  a  bit  about  her  father  as  I  thought  there  was 
some  reason  for  my  doing  so.  However,  time  will  explain 
Explain. 

(Yes.  Now,  I  want  to  go  back  to  Borst  again,  Hodgson. 
It  really  was  not  so  strange  that  I  mistook  you  for  him,  you 
are  so  like  him.) 

Oh,  nonsense.  Hall,  you  were  trying  to  place  hypnotic  sug- 
gestion to  me.  I  know  who  I  am  perfectly  well  and  I  hope 
you  will  some  day  UD.  If  I  do  not  meet  you  when  you  cross 
the  bar  my  name  is  not  Hodgson. 

(\\\  right,  Hodgson.  My  only  doubt  is  whether  you  are 
not  really  Mrs.  Piper's  secondary  personality,  and  I  should  like 
to  have  you  give  me  some  proof  that  you  are  not.) 

I  am  interested  in  seeing  III  am  interested  in  seeing 
how  many  stories  you  can  tell  in  a  minute.  They  awfully 
bad.  They  are  awful  whoppers.  They  are  awful  whoppers.  I 
never  heard  so  many  from  one  in  a  minute. 

(Well,  perhaps  that's  so,  Hodgson,  but  can't  you  give  me 
a  sign  to  show  that  you  are  not  a  split-off  part  of  Mrs.  Piper?) 

I  see  your  sincerity  underneath  all  this.  I  see  I  see  all 
your  sincerity  underneath  all  this. 

[Then  came  three  lines  of  faint  dots  and  dashes  at  which 
we  exclaimed  in  despair,  and  asked  the  control  to  write  over, 

228 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

as  we  could  not  read  a  word  of  it.  After  another  line  came 
the  words :] 

My  own  shorthand. 

[At  this  point  Dr.  Tanner  looking  back  at  this  thought 
that  perhaps  Hodgson  might  have  taken  refuge  in  profanity, 
and  remarked  to  Dr.  Hall  with  a  laugh  that  it  looked  as  if  it 
might  be  the  beginning  of  '  Hell  and  damnation.'  Whereupon 
the  hand  went  on,] 

Listen,  Hall.     Don't  talk  like  that,  it  distresses  me. 

[Dr.  Hall  thought  that  he  was  jeferring  to  the  question  of 
secondary  personality  and  said  something  to  the  effect  that 
he  could  not  wonder  that  he  was  suspected,  but  the  hand 
said,] 

No,  what  she  said. 

[I  said  something  to  the  effect  that  I  was  sorry  that  I  had 
hurt  his  feelings  and  he  went  on :] 

No,  I  am  only  surprised  and  disappointed. 

(Disappointed  ?) 

Yes.  I  am  really  serious  and  no  part  of  Mrs.  Piper's  ma- 
chine. I  assure  you  I  was  on  the  right  track  before  I  left 
the  body. 

(Well,  now,  Hodgson,  you  hear  wonderfully  well,  and  you 
see,  too.  You  knew  that  Mr.  Dorr  had  not  gone  out  of  the 
room  last  week,  and  you  felt  that  the  window  ought  to  be 
opened.     You  really  can  smell,  can't  you?) 

No,  I  could  not  really.    I  do  not  claim  more  than  I  can  do. 

(Then  how  did  you  know  that  the  room  was  close?) 

I  saw  the  ether  going  saw  the  ether  and  knew  it  was  because 
of  the  conditions  on  your  side. 

(But  you  hear  perfectly  well,  through  Mrs.  Piper's  hand?) 

Yes.  Do  anything  you  like  and  should  hear  just  the 
same  .  .  Yes.  Do  anything  you  like  and  I  shall  hear  just 
the  same. 

(Can  you  smell?) 

No.    Do  not  claim  to. 

(Nor  taste?) 

No. 

(Would  you  feel  it  if  Mrs.  Piper  was  hurt?) 

I  should  not,  no.     I  should  not,  no.     But  I  would  not  hurt 

229 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  machine  if,  machine,  machine,  if  I  were  you  it  might 
suffer,  suffer,  after  I  have  gone. 

[We  assured  him  warmly  that  we  had  no  intention  of  hurt- 
ing Mrs.  Piper,  and  then  Dr.  Hall  went  on  solicitously,] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  have  been  very  much  annoyed  at  the  way 
some  people  have  treated  Mrs.  Piper.  They  have  annoyed  her 
greatly.     Can't  you  suggest  some  way  to  stop  it?) 

Annoying  Mrs.  Piper? 

(Yes,  by  printing  things  about  her  and  so  on.  Can't  you 
tell  me  how  to  stop  it?) 

Yes,  as  I  did. 

(Yes,  but  how  did  you  do?) 

I  fought  for  her. 

(Yes,  but  just  what  shall  we  do?) 

Follow  my  example. 

(Yes.  Well,  now,  Hodgson,  which  kind  of  sitters  do  you 
like  best,  those  who  come  investigating,  like  myself,  or  those 
who  wish  to  come  into  communication  with  their  dead  friends  ?) 

Bot Don't  say  dead Both.    Both. 

(But  which  would  you  rather  have  come?) 

Both.  I  like  to  help  everybody  everybody  anyone  who  is 
really  worthy, 

(Yes.  Well,  now,  I  have  a  very  important  question  to 
ask  you.) 

Eire  away. 

(It  seems  that  in  all  the  history  of  spiritualism,  way  back 
to  earliest  Greek  times,  a  man  always  comes  through  a  woman 
medium  and  a  woman  through  a  man  medium.  A  table  has 
been  drawn  up  showing  this.     Now,  why  is  that  so?) 

There  is  no  real  reason  for  it  I  think.  It  simply  happens 
so.     Curiously. 

(Yes,  but  there  must  be  some  reason  for  it,  Hodgson,  and 
you  ought  to  know.) 

I'll  look  into  and  reply  later. 

(Very  well,  Hodgson.  Now,  I  suppose  sex  lives  over  there, 
doesn't  it?) 

Yes.     There  is  individuality  individuality  all  through. 

(Wouldn't  you  like  really  to  come  back  to  this  world?) 

I  would  like  to  have  finished  my  work  there  but  I  have 

230 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

taken  up  the  threads  threads  here  and  am  trying  my  level  best, 
level,  to  finish  it  here. 

(Yes,  but  you  left  so  much  unfinished  here,  and  you  were 
just  in  your  prime.  I  should  think  you  would  feel  the  call  from 
this  side.     It's  pretty  strong.) 

I  do  therefore  you  UD  why  I  am  so  persistent  here,  why 
I  am  so 

(Yes,  I  understand.) 

[Dr.  Tanner  calls  Dr.  Hall's  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mrs. 
Piper  ought  to  come  out  of  the  trance  soon  in  order  to  meet 
an  engagement  that  she  has,  and  Dr.  Hall  tells  Hodgson  that 
Mrs.  Piper  has  an  engagement  to  meet,  and  that  she  ought  to 
waken  very  soon.     To  this  the  hand  writes, ] 

What  has  that  to  do  with  me  I'd  like  to  know  I  will  go 
when  I  have  replied  to  all  your  questions. 

(We  are  all  done.) 

[The  hand  reaches  over  and  feels  Dr.  Hall's  list  of  ques- 
tions, and  then  writes,] 

Finish  and  I'll  go. 

[Dr.  Tanner  takes  the  list  and  lays  it  out  of  reach,  and 
Dr.  Hall  reiterates  that  we  are  done,  and  asks:] 

(How  can  we  get  Mrs.  Piper  awake  now?) 

I'll  call  i.  s.  d.  will  call  him.    When  do  we  meet  again? 

(Can  we  meet  two  weeks  from  to-day?) 

Oh,  don't  talk  like  that.     Oh,  don't  talk,  I  can't  IJD. 

[Dr.  Tanner  then  says:] 

(Can  we  come  second  after  second  coming?  Will  that  be 
right?) 

I'll  inquire.  [The  hand  rises,  beckons,  questions,  and 
writes,]  Yes.  Very  good.  I'll  be  here.  Go  tell  your  father 
to  keep  quiet. 

(My  father?)     [Dr.  Tanner.] 

I  said  so.     Got  it? 

(Yes.     I'll  tell  him.)     [Dr.  Tanner.] 

More  next  time.  I  want  you  to  see  daylight  want  you  to 
see  day,  I  want  you  to  see  daylight. 

(Yes,  Hodgson.     Thank  you  very  much  and  good-bye.) 

Capital.    Auf  wiedersehen. 

(Adieu.) 

231 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Adieu. 

[Writing  grows  faint.] 

+  We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessing  of  the  Most  High 
rest  on  you  both.  -(-  Farewell.  (K.) 

SUBLIMINAL 

At  12 :  41  Mrs.  Piper  finished  writing  and  the  head  began 
to  rise  at  12  :  44,  coming  up  permanently  at  12 :  47.  At  12  :  48 
the  eyes  were  open  but  seemed  not  to  see  anything. 

SPOKEN   IN   THE   SUBLIMINAL 

Horace.     [Unintelligible  words.     Then  deep  sniffs.] 
(What  do  you  smell?) 

Lilies  beautiful  Myers  Joe  Elizabeth 

Mother Uncle Rob Baby 


(What  baby?) 

Mother's 

(What  mother?) 

Madge 

(Who  is  Madge?) 

Hattie. 

(Hattie?) 

[Shakes  her  head.] 

Hodgson  told  me.     Baby. 

(Whose  baby?) 

Mother's 

(What  mother?) 

Yours. 

(My  mother's  baby?) 

[Nod  of  assent.  Then  she  catches  sight  of  Dr.  Hall,  who 
is  standing  directly  in  front  of  her,  and  exclaims  with  the 
utmost  disgust:] 

A-a-a-ah ! 

(Pretty  bad,   isn't   it?)    [he   says]. 

[The  questions  above  about  the  baby,  etc.,  .were  asked  by 
Dr.  Tanner.]  ^ 

A-a-h! 

(You  know  me,  don't  you,  Mrs.  Piper)  [asked  Dr.  Hall]. 

232 


FOURTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

What's  the  noise? 

(You  recognise  me,  don't  you  ?) 

You  recognise  me,  don't  you? 

(Yes.) 

Yes. 

(I'm  afraid  you  going  to  be  tired.) 

I'm  afraid  you're  going  to  be  tired. 

(I  should  be  sorry  to  have  you  go  into  a  sleep  now.) 

I  should  be  sorry  to  have  you  go  into  a  sleep  now. 

[This  mimicry  was  given  with  Mrs.  Piper  looking  at  Dr. 
Hall  and  varying  his  inflections  just  enough  for  it  to  be  very 
ludicrous.  At  this  point  Dr.  Tanner,  who  was  sitting  close  to 
Mrs.  Piper  and  to  one  side,  began  to  laugh,  and  Mrs.  Piper 
turned  toward  her  and  scrutinised  her  intently,  as  she  had 
Dr.  Hall  just  a  few  minutes  before.] 

(How  do  you  do,  Mrs.  Piper?)     [Dr.  Tanner.] 

You  look  like  an  owl. 

(Yes,  and  she  makes  faces  like  that,  too.)  [and  Dr.  Hall 
twisted  his  own  face  into  a  thousand  wrinkles.] 

Oh,  no,  she  doesn't !  [said  Mrs.  Piper  in  a  shocked  way,  and 
the  two  of  them  had  quite  an  argument  over  it.] 

You're  getting  nearer  to  me  now — I  don't  care.  I  saw 
that  lovely  light  with  the  rainbow  in  it.  Did  you  hear  my 
head  snap  ?  0-o-oh,  you're  Dr.  Hall,  aren't  you  ?  You  looked 
so  small  a  minute  ago,  so  very  far  away.  Did  you  hear  that? 
[Referring  to  another  snap  of  the  head.]  Why,  I  recognised 
you  quite  soon,  didn't  I?  That  shows  I'm  getting  better  ac- 
quainted with  you. 

The  conversation  then  became  quite  desultory,  and  it  was 
remarked  that  this  time  she  had  only  been  in  the  trance  a  few 
minutes  over  the  hour.  This  seemed  to  surprise  her,  for  usu- 
ally it  lasts  about  an  hour  and  a  half  or  three-quarters,  and 
she  seemed  to  be  much  interested  and  rather  impressed  to  learn 
that  we  had  succeeded  in  having  the  controls  awaken  her. 


COMMENTS    ON   THE   FOURTH   SITTING 

Onr    doubt    of  his    identity    had    apparently    rankled 
somewhat  in  R.  IP's  mind,  and  had  put  him  on  his  guard 
18  233 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

to  some  degree.  He  begins  here,  therefore,  his  policy  of 
ignorance,  but  with  the  inability  that  we  should  expect  of 
a  secondary  personality  to  grasp  the  whole  situation,  he 
fails  to  see  that  there  are  some  things  which  R.  H.  must 
know,  and  that  his  ignorance  and  insensitiveness  must  be 
self-consistent.  For  instance,  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that 
the  spirit  Hodgson  could  give  us  no  information  at  all  about 
Mrs.  Piper,  while  at  the  same  time  he  could  tell  us  about 
"  Uncle  Robert's  "  lame  ]eg,  residence  in  Bay,  accident, 
etc.  His  characteristic  evasion  of  his  mistake  about  my 
father  is  also  in  line  with  his  attempts  throughout  the 
sitting. 

Then,  when  Dr.  Hall  began  once  more  to  press  home  the 
similarity  between  Hodgson  and  the  imaginary  Borst,  in- 
stead of  getting  angry  this  time  the  control  compliments 
him  on  his  sincerity,  and  tries  to  divert  us  by  his  short- 
hand, and  by  rebuking  my  profanity,  until  Dr.  Hall  veers 
off  to  the  matter  of  the  control's  sense  perceptions.  From 
here  on  the  control  professes  inability  or  ignorance. 


CHAPTER   XIV 
SITTINGS   WITH   MRS.   PIPER:    FIFTH   SITTING 

There  was  but  little  preliminary  conversation  this  time, 
as  we  had  a  long  programme  planned  and  were  anxious  to 
cover  as  much  of  it  as  possible  in  the  trance.  Mrs.  Piper 
looked  pale  and  tired,  and  said  that  she  had  a  slight  head- 
ache, but  that  it  was  passing  off,  and  it  did  not  seem  to 
affect  her  going  into  the  trance.  She  also  said  that  the  hot 
weather  was  always  very  trying  to  her,  and  that  she  was 
very  anxious  to  leave  the  city  by  June  1st,  so  that  she 
could  have  a  long  rest. 

In  this  sitting.  Dr.  Hall  and  I  had  planned  to  test  the 
senses  as  thoroughly  as  we  could  without  much  apparatus, 
and  we  hoped  to  discover  enough  sensibility  to  show  that 
the  control  knew  something  about  Mrs.  Piper's  body  in 
spite  of  his  reiterated  assertions  to  the  contrary.  We  then 
wanted  to  convict  him  of  ignorance  of  his  own  life,  and 
bring  home  to  him  the  contradictions  in  which  he  had  in- 
volved himself,  once  more  trying  to  make  him  confess  that 
he  was  not  Hodgson  but  only  Mrs.  Piper.  It  took  so  long 
to  make  the  tests,  however,  that  we  hardly  finished  the 
first  part  of  the  programme. 

The  sitting  opened  as  usual: 

+  Hail.     Once   more   we   return    to   earth    to    greet   you, 

friends.    Peace  and  love  we  bring.  -|-     (R.) 

(Good   morning,   Rector.     Can  you  bring   Hodgson  to  us 

now?) 

I'll  call  him  as  he  expected  to  meet  you  this  day.  (R.) 
[A  pause  and  then  the  hand  cramps  and  clenches.] 
Hello,  Hall.     Got  those  problems  solved  yet? 

235 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

[From  here  on  it  was  impossible  to  get  Dr.  Hall's  exact 
words.  Previous  to  the  sitting  he  had  made  out  a  list  of  the 
questions  he  wished  to  ask,  which  he  adhered  to  rather  closely, 
but  in  some  instances  he  added  persuasive  words,  etc.  I  should 
also  say  that  before  the  trance  we  opened  the  package  of  the 
Hodgson  influences,  before  Mrs.  Piper,  but  after  the  trance 
came  on  we  substituted  for  the  neckties  a  bundle  of  Dr.  Hall's, 
which  the  hand  used  frequently  during  the  sitting  and  seemed 
to  derive  much  satisfaction  from.] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  want  you  to  do  a  little  different  sort  of 
test  for  me,  which  you  may  think  rather  silly.  You  said,  you 
know,  that  we  could  make  any  tests  we  pleased,  and  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  is  rather  anxious  too  to  have  us  try  some  of  these.  Just 
look  on  it  as  a  new  game,  or  a  repetition  of  some  of  the  tests 
we  used  to  try  in  the  laboratory.) 

All  right. 

(Now,  you  have  control  of  Mrs.  Piper's  hand,  and  make  it 
write,  etc.,  and  I  want  you  to  give  close  attention  here  to  the 
hand,  and  tell  me  whether  you  can  feel  one  point  or  two  when 
I  press  upon  it.) 

[The  esthesiometer  was  then  adjusted  with  the  points  ap- 
proximately three-fourths  of  an  inch  apart,  and  they  were  first 
touched  lightly  to-  the  palm  of  the  hand,  in  the  centre.  As 
this  elicited  no  response.  Dr.  Hall  pressed  harder,  and  finally 
intimated  that  he  was  pressing.] 

I  feel  nothing.     Try  again. 

[Again  he  pressed,  and  this  time  with  enough  force  to  give 
considerable  pain  if  the  sensitiveness  were  normal,  but  no  re- 
sponse came,  and  finally  he  said,] 

(Why,  Hodgson,  surely  you  feel  that.     You  must  feel  it.) 

That  is  not  so.  I  do  not  feel  anything.  Try  again  else- 
where and  suppose  you  do  not  suggest  anything  about  it  only 
simply  to  tell  me  you  are  pressing.  Suppose  you  try  it  gently 
and  a  little 

[Here  the  hand  suddenly  paused,  raised  itself  and  seemed 
to  beckon  out  into  the  room,  and  then  wrote,] 

All  right,  I'll  attend  to  you  later. 

[Again  Dr.  Hall  pressed,  this  time  without  saying  any- 
thing, heavily.] 

236 


FIFTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

I  had  a  sensation  of  two  touches. 

(Good,  Hodgson.    That's  very  good.    Now  let  me  try  again.) 

[The  esthesiometer  was  readjusted  at  approximately  half  an 
inch,  and  again  the  pressure  was  applied,  at  first  lightly,  and 
then  with  a  degree  of  pressure  quite  painful  to  the  normal 
person,  and  with  a  slightly  rocking  movement,  which  would 
decidedly  emphasize  the  two  points.] 

Not  so  good.     Not  so  good,  but  very  probably  one. 

(Excellent,  Hodgson.  Now  we  won't  try  that  any  more, 
but  you  tell  me  when  you  feel  any  pressure.) 

[We  then  took  the  algometer,  and  applied  it  also  to  the 
palm,  Dr.  Hall  supporting  the  back  of  the  hand  against  his 
own.  The  pressure  was  increased  from  nothing  to  twenty-five 
pounds.  Dr.  Hall  asking  at  intervals  whether  he  felt  anything 
and  the  control  replying,]  Not  in  the  slightest,  [Until  the 
maximum  was  reached,  and  then,  when  the  pressure  was  re- 
leased, the  hand  wrote,]   Rector  forbids.     Better  not. 

[Now  it  must  be  noted  here  that  while  these  somewhat 
severe  tests  were  being  applied,  which  the  hand  said  it  did  not 
feel,  the  hand  at  the  same  time  knew  the  instant  when  the 
instruments  were  removed  from  it,  because  at  once  it  began  to 
write,  and  it  seemed  to  me  very  obvious  that  the  twenty-five 
pound  pressure  was  painful,  or  Rector  would  not  have  in- 
tervened.] 

(Very  well,  Hodgson,  we  won't  try  anything  more  like  that. 
But  now  we  want  to  see  whether  you  can't  detect  any  odours 
that  are  in  this  room.) 

Odour  ? 

(Yes.  You  know  that  last  time  you  told  us  when  the  air 
was  bad,  and  when  you  were  alive  you  had  a  very  good  sense 
of  smell.     Now,  just  tell  us  whether  you  don't  smell  anything.) 

[I  uncorked  a  camphor  bottle  and  held  it  close  up  to  Mrs. 
Piper's  nostrils  so  that  it  seemed  as  if  she  could  hardly  get 
any  air  unless  saturated  with  camphor.  I  held  it  there  for 
some  seconds  without  any  effect,  and  the  hand  asked :] 

Ready  ? 

(Yes.     Now,  don't  you  smell  camphor  ?) 

I  can't  smell  anything. 

[I  then  tried  two  comparatively  mild  odours  with  the  same 

237 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

result,  and  finally  held  a  bottle  of  ether  close,  as  I  had  the 
camphor.  When  she  got  the  first  whiff  of  this,  Mrs.  Piper 
winced  decidedly  and  drew  back,  but  when  asked  if  he  smelled 
anything,  the  control  said  again:] 

I  do  not  smell  anything. 

(But,  Hodgson,  give  attention  now,  and  I  am  sure  you  can. 
You  ought  to  be  able  to  smell  this.) 

I  certainly  would  if  I  could. 

[Again  it  was  tried,  but  again  came  the  same  answer:] 

I  smell  nothing. 

[Unfortunately  we  could  get  no  other  unconscious  betrayal 
here  as  with  the  pain  and  pressure  tests,  and  so  we  left  it. 
Dr.  Hall  then  said  that  in  the  same  way  we  wanted  to  try  for 
taste,  and  told  him  to  attend  closely  to  Mrs.  Piper's  mouth, 
while  I  put  some  sugar  into  it.  He  told  Hodgson  that  it 
would  be  sugar  and  quite  agreeable,  but  in  reality  I  put  in 
about  a  third  of  a  saltspoonful  of  salt.  It  was  rather  difficult 
to  get  this  in,  as  the  tongue  seemed  to  be  against  the  roof  of 
the  mouth,  but  I  managed  to  get  the  spoon  in,  and  closed  the 
lips  over  the  salt,  holding  them  closed  an  instant  or  two.  While 
I  was  doing  this,  the  hand  vsrrote:] 

Ready  ? 

[The  salt  had  been  there  only  an  instant,  when  Mrs.  Piper's 
mouth  drew  up  and  became  wry,  just  as  anyone's  would  on  tast- 
ing such  a  dose,  but  at  the  same  time  the  hand  wrote  again:] 

Are  you  ready? 

(Yes,  we  are  trying.) 

I  taste  nothing. 

[The  salt  continued  to  dissolve,  and  Dr.  Hall  urged  Hodg- 
son to  attend  closely,  but  he  kept  on  saying:] 

I  taste  nothing.     I  taste  nothing. 

[We  told  him  again  that  we  had  tried  one  test,  and  he 
wrote :] 

Only  one?     Only  one  did  you  say? 

(Yes,  but  now  we  will  try  something  else.) 

[I  then  put  about  one-third  of  a  teaspoonful  of  camphor  in 
her  mouth,  but  I  do  not  feel  sure  how  far  it  got  in,  and  it 
produced  no  palpable  effect.     The  hand  wrote:] 


I  am  waiting  patiently. 


238 


FIFTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

[And  after  an  instant:] 

Why  don't  you  try? 

(We  are  trying,  Hodgson.  We  have  been  trying  for  some 
time.     Can't  you  really  taste  anything?) 

I  can't  taste  anything. 

(Once  more,  please.) 

[I  then  put  nearly  a  saltspoonful  of  sugar  in,  and  the  hand 
wrote] 

Have  you  tried  ? 

[We  did  not  pursue  this  any  farther,  as  it  was  evident  that 
even  if  he  did  taste  anything  the  control  would  not  admit  it, 
and  we  had  no  check  upon  him.  Dr.  Hall  therefore  turned  to 
another  phase  of  the  experiments,  and  spoke  to  him  something 
in  this  style:] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  we  are  very  anxious  to  try  some  other  ex- 
periments. We  know  that  you  can  do  anything  you  want  to, 
and  we  should  like  to  have  you  raise  Mrs.  Piper's  left  arm.) 

I  can't  be  in  forty  places  at  once. 

(No,  but  surely  you  can  raise  that  arm.  You  do  anything 
you  want  to  with  this  right  arm  and  hand — you  make  it  write,, 
and  raise  it,  and  so  on ) 

That  is  my  head,  you  stupid,  head. 

(Come  now,  Hodgson,  be  honest.  You  know  you  can  raise 
that  arm  if  you  want  to.) 

I  am  as  honest  as  I  have  power  to  be. 

(Yes,  I  don't  doubt  that.  But,  come,  now.  You  can  raise 
this  hand  as  you  please;  raise  it  high.) 

My  head  you  mean. 

(Well,  your  head,  then.  Raise  it  high,  now,  just  to 
oblige  me.) 

[The  hand  and  arm  then  swept  up,  full  length,  coming  down 
with  a  bang.] 

(Good.     Splendid.     Now,  raise  the  other  arm.) 

Can't  do  it. 

(Why,  yes,  you  can,  Hodgson.    I  am  sure  you  can.) 

I  can  go  out  and 

(Well,  that  would  be  good,  but  wouldn't  it  wake  her?) 

Not  so,  but  exhausts  her  ether. 

(Well,  we  don't  want  that  now.     But  try  some  other  things. 

239 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Make  her  tap  lier  right  foot.  You  have  control  of  the  right 
side,  and  you  can  make  her  do  that.) 

Cannot  do  it.  Hall.     I  am  sorry,  would  if  I  could  possibly. 

(Yes,  I  know  that  is  so.) 

Yes,  indeed  I  would, 

(Well,  now,  I  should  like  to  have  you  try  to  control  her 
mouth.) 

I  am  perfectly  willing. 

(You  know  you  used  to  make  her  speak.     Try  now.) 

I  will  try. 

[Dr.  Hall  suggests  that  he  had  better  strengthen  himself 
with  the  influence  and  passes  over  his  neckties,  which  the  hand 
clutches.] 

(Try  hard  now.     Make  her  say,  one,  two,  three.) 

I  am  trying.     I  am  afraid  I  cannot. 

(Why,  have  you  lost  the  power  you  used  to  have?) 

No.  I  could  leave  here  and  take  that  up.  I  could  leave 
here  and  take  that  up.  I  will  another  day.  I  will  do  this  next 
time  if  you  like. 

(Very  well,  Hodgson.  But  now  I  want  to  try  something 
else,  if  you  don't  mind.) 

All  right,  but  we  will  have  to  go  then.  When  I  do  this  I 
will  be  obliged  to  go  out  entirely. 

(Very  well,  but  don't  go  yet.  Now,  I  should  like  to  have 
you  give  Mrs.  Piper  a  dream.     You  can  do  that,  can't  you?) 

I  will  try.     Are  you  ready? 

(Yes.  Now,  do  your  best,  Hodgson,  for  this  is  very  im- 
portant.) 

All  right,  I  will  gladly. 

(Now,  we  are  going  out  in  a  boat  and  are  on  the  water. 
Don't  you  feel  the  motion  of  the  waves,  rocking  up  and  down, 
up  and  down.     How  delightful  it  is!) 

[Dr.  Hall  talked  at  considerable  length,  painting  the 
picture.] 

Are  we  on  the  water?  I  think  you  are  the  only  one  on  the 
boat.  Hall.     I  do  not  seem  to  feel  upside  down. 

(Oh,  no,  not  seasick,  but  just  a  lovely,  rocking  motion. 
Surely  you  feel  that?) 

No,  but  I  wish  I  could.    I  used  to  love  it. 

240 


FIFTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(And  there's  another  boat,  too,  and  there  are  two  women 
in  it.     You  see  them,  surely.) 

I  am  afraid  I  am  blind  Hall. 

(Now  thej'  are  coming  nearer,  and  they  are  looking  at  us. 
And  one  of  them  is  waving  her  handl^erchief.) 

Let's  have  a  look  and  see.     I  love  the  ladies. 

[The  hand  raised  itself  and  moved  about  as  if  looking.] 

Say,  Hall,  your  boat  is  a  myth.     You  must  be  dreaming. 

(No,  you're  the  one  who's  dreaming.  The  boat  is  there, 
plain  as  can  be,  and  the  women.) 

I  will  look  again. 

[Dr.  Tanner  makes  an  unnoted  remark.] 

Neither  do  I.  I  can  only  see  you  and  Mrs.  H.  She  wants 
to  know  if  you  are  satisfied. 

[This  sudden  variation  introduced  some  confusion  in  our 
minds  and  we  talked  to  each  other  a  minute  or  so.  Presumably 
the  control  heard,  and  went  on,] 

I  am  so  glad  she  popped  in,  she  popped  in.  She  asked  if 
you  are  satisfied? 

(Oh.  But  don't  you  see  that  boat,  Hodgson?  and  those 
women  ?) 

You  mustn't  ignore  her.  Do  say  something,  if  only  to  tell 
her  about  the  boat.     Boat. 

(Well,  now,  Hodgson,  suppose  we  speak  to  those  girls,  and 
make  up  a  party  with  them.) 

Don't  talk  such  nonsense,  Hall.  I  used  to  think  you  were 
sensible.  If  you  keep  on  don't  lose  your  sense  of  Don't  lose 
your  sense  of  honour. 

(Oh,  you  don't  understand,  Hodgson.  I  know  those  girls, 
and  I  want  to  speak  to  them.) 

All  right,  glad  you  do. 

[Evidently  we  were  not  making  much  impression  here,  and 
so  we  shifted  to  some  colour  tests,  though  we  had  little  expec- 
tation of  their  success. 

I  had  slips  of  white  cardboard,  four  by  two  inches,  with 
coloured  paper,  two  and  three  fourths  inches  by  one  pasted  on 
them,  in  the  six  standard  colours,  red,  orange,  yellow,  green, 
blue,  purple.  I  stood  on  Mrs.  Piper's  left  side,  and  gently 
pressed  up  the  eyelid  until  the  iris  was  exposed.    This  was  easy 

241 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  certainly  painless,  and  the  eyeball  was  not  perceptibly 
rolled  up,  though  at  times  it  rolled  to  the  left  and  slightly  up, 
especially  when  the  hand  began  to  write.  I  am  sure,  however, 
that  with  each  of  the  colours,  rays  of  light  from  them  must 
have  penetrated  to  the  retina.  Dr.  Hall  now  explained  that  we 
wanted  Hodgson  to  tell  us  if  he  saw  any  colour  in  the  room.] 

Colour,  colour. 

[At  this  time  I  was  exposing  red.] 

I  don't  see  any. 

(No,  we  don't  mean  tell  us  whether  you  see  any.  But  tell 
us  any  colour  that  happens  to  come  into  your  mind  first.  Think 
of  some  colour,  and  tell  us  what  you  think  of.) 

White. 

[I  then  exposed  blue.] 

(What  colour  do  you  think  of  now?) 

Black. 

[I  then  exposed  yellow.] 

(Now  think  hard,  Hodgson,  what  colour  comes  to  mind 
now?) 

Mottled.    Mottled. 

[There  seemed  no  use  in  continuing  these,  and  so  we 
stopped.    Dr.  Hall  then  tried  another  tack.] 

(Now,  Hodgson,  you  remembered  your  own  address  per- 
fectly well,  and  you  know  Mr.  Dorr's.  Why  don't  you  know 
Mrs.  Piper's?  It's  not  consistent  for  you  not  to  know  it,  and 
I  think  if  you  try  you  can  give  it  to  us.) 

I  have  tried  and  tried  and  tried  again  and  again,  but  it 
does  not  come.    I  wish  it  did,  then  I  should  not  seem  so  stupid. 

(Oh,  no,  you  don't  seem  stupid,  Hodgson,  but  it  seems 
strange  that  this  should  not  come.) 

I  want  to  recall  earthly  things.  [This  was  written  over 
several  times  before  we  deciphered  it.] 

(Well,  no  matter,  Hodgson.  But  now,  we  want  to  try  an 
experiment  with  hearing.  You  have  told  us,  you  know,  that 
you  hear  through  Mrs.  Piper's  hand,  and  we  are  very  anxious 
to  see  whether  you  can  hear  just  as  well  if  Mrs.  Piper's  ears 
are  stopped.) 

[Symbol  that  looks  like  X.]  O  Lodge  asked  me  this 
himself. 

242 


FIFTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

[A  watch  was  then  held  to  the  left  ear,  and  Dr.  Hall 
asked :] 

(Do  you  hear  it  tick?) 

No. 

(Now?) 

No.     I  don't. 

[The  watch  was  then  put  in  the  hand.] 

(Now?) 

No. 

[This  was  done  several  times,  but  at  no  time  did  the  con- 
trol admit  hearing  the  watch.  The  clicker  was  then  brought 
out  and  first  clicked  in  the  left  ear.] 

(Do  you  hear  this?) 

No. 

(Now?) 

No. 

[It  was  then  clicked  in  the  hand.] 

(Now?) 

Yes.  Sounds  like  what  we  used  to  call  a  whistle.  [Parts 
of  this  had  to  be  rewritten  before  we  could  read  it.] 

[The  watch  was  tried  again  in  the  hand,  with  the  usual 
question.] 

No.     Sorry,  but  I  don't.     Try  again  on  my  head. 

[I  took  this  to  mean  the  hand,  while  Dr.  Hall  thought  it 
meant  Mrs.  Piper's  head,  and  the  hand  wrote:] 

I  said  my  head,  try 

[At  this  point  we  clicked  in  the  hand  again.] 

Yes.    I  heard  that. 

[At  this  point  we  tried  to  stop  the  ears,  but  the  conversa- 
tion went  on  as  easily  as  before.  I  whispered  to  Dr.  Hall  to 
try  to  fool  the  control,  by  not  clicking  in  his  hand,  but  I  think 
that  he  heard  me.  Dr.  Hall  then  simply  put  the  clicker  against 
the  hand  and  made  the  movement  of  clicking,  asking:] 

(Do  you  hear  it?) 

No. 

(Don't  you  hear  this?) 

No. 

(Now?) 

Do  as  you  did  before.     I  shall  hear  it  then. 

243 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(Well,  surely  you  hear  it  now?) 

I  could  hear  it  if  you  did  it. 

(Well,  you  see,  Hodgson,  you  really  can't  hear  if  your  ears 
are  stopped.) 

You  try  it  honestly  and  see. 

[Dr.  Hall  then  clicked.] 

(Do  you  hear  now?) 

Of  course  I  hear  it.    You  can't  deceive  me  to  save  your  life. 

(Well,  we'll  have  to  admit  that  you  got  the  best  of  us  this 
time,  Hodgson.) 

You  can't  deceive  me.  We  are  all  we  claim,  and  we  are 
not  here  to  deceive  ourselves.     We  want  to  be 

strictly  honest.  taste  for  you.  Hall.     Make  sense 

of  what  I  say. 

(Yes.  Now,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  a  little  more  about  Mrs. 
Piper.     Where  did  she  get  that  parrot?) 

What? 

[This  was  asked  five  times,  and  at  last  the  word  was  spelled, 
and  the  hand  wrote,] 

Didn't  know  she  had  one.  Hall.  I  am  afraid  you  must 
cease.     I  am  going  out. 

(Oh,  don't  go  just  yet,  Hodgson.    Wait  a  little,  if  you  can.) 

I'll  try. 

(Do  you  remember  a  man  I  sent  to  you  once,  who  drew 
very  remarkable  figures?  I  should  like  to  have  you  tell  me 
about  him,  his  name,  etc.     Can  you  recall  him?) 

I  can't  at  the  moment,  but  perhaps  another  time  when  the 
light  is  clear,  I  may.  The  ether  is  going,  -f-  says  we  must 
not  remain  too  long.  Good-bye.  Going.  Farewell,  Hall. 
Next  time  I  bring  a  friend  I  want  you  to  speak  to,  next  time 
I  bring  a  friend  I  want  you  to  speak  to  them. 

(Oh,  yes.  We'll  try  to  be  more  polite  next  time,  Hodgson. 
Sorry  we  were  rude.)      [Tanner.] 

(Now,  will  you  please  send  Rector  to  us,  Hodgson?) 

What  can  I  do,  friends,  to  help  you? 

[Dr.  Tanner  then  made  arrangements  for  another  sitter, 
who  thought  that  possibly  she  would  not  herself  be  able  to 
come  at  the  appointed  time,  and  wanted  to  send  a  substitute. 

She   next  presented   an   "  influence "   sent   by   Hyslop,   on 

244 


FIFTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

which  he  wanted  one  of  the  controls  to  pass,  but  Rector  said 
it  would  have  to  wait  until  another  time,  as  it  was  too  late 
then.  Arrangements  were  then  made  for  the  next  sitting,  and 
the  sitting  was  closed  as  usual.] 

We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessings  of  God  rest  on  you. 
+  Farewell.     (R.) 


CHAPTER   XV 

SITTINGS   WITH   MRS.    PIPER:    SIXTH    SITTING 

In  the  interval  between  the  last  sitting  and  this  one 
there  had  been  some  correspondence  between  Miss  and 
Mrs.  Piper  on  the  one  side  and  Mr.  Dorr  and  Dr.  Hall  on 
the  other,  with  regard  to  the  experiments  of  the  fifth  sit- 
ting. This  correspondence  is  on  file.  It  appears  that  some 
time  after  the  sitting  red  spots  appeared  on  Mrs.  Piper's 
palm,  and  her  index  finger  was  numb  for  two  or  three  days, 
the  red  spots  being  the  after-effects  of  the  esthesiometer 
pressure,  and  the  numbness  probably  due  to  the  pain-pres- 
sure experiments.  Her  lower  lip  was  also  blistered  from  the 
camphor  used.  Her  daughter  wrote  to  Mr.  Dorr  the  day 
after  the  sitting  describing  these  effects,  in  some  distress, 
saying  that  she  had  hoped  that  the  need  for  such  tests  was 
over.  Mr.  Dorr  sent  the  letter  to  Dr.  Hall,  and  Dr.  Hall 
wrote  both  to  Mr.  Dorr  and  Mrs.  Piper  explaining  the 
experiments  and  stating  that  we  had  finished  them,  and 
that  we  should  not  have  gone  so  far  had  not  the  Hodgson 
control  authorised  us  to  do  so,  and  that  we  stopped  when 
Rector  told  us  to.  In  reply  Mrs.  Piper  wrote  back  that  she 
had  no  objections  to  experiments  of  any  sort  if  they  left 
no  bad  after-effects,  but  that  of  course  she  had  wondered 
what  had  been  done. 

At  this  sixth  sitting.  Dr.  Hall  took  an  esthesiometer  and 
showed  it  to  Mrs.  Piper,  illustrating  how  we  had  used  it, 
and  saying  again  how  sorry  he  was  that  there  had  been 
such  effects,  but  that  Hodgson  had  given  us  the  authority 
to  go  on.    Mrs.  Piper  was  much  interested,  but  seemed  to 

246 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

feel  that  the  experiments  were  proper,  and  recognised  that 
we  could  not  tell  her  beforehand  about  them.  She  said 
that  Dr.  Hodgson  had  tried  some  similar  tests  at  one  time, 
with  much  the  same  results.  He  had  held  ammonia  to  her 
nose,  and  she  had  taken  deep  whiffs  of  it  without  being 
sensible  of  it,  but  that  afterward  her  nose  had  bled  and 
had  been  extremely  sensitive  for  a  long  time,  and  she  is 
inclined  to  think  that  her  sense  of  smell  has  never  been 
as  acute  since.  She  also  showed  us  a  scar  on  one  arm  where 
she  said  some  physician  had  lanced  her  arm  while  she  was 
in  the  trance  to  see  if  it  bled  normally. 

Dr.  Hall  explained  also  that  perhaps  we  went  far- 
ther than  we  should  otherwise,  because  we  saw  that  all  the 
time  that  Hodgson  was  saying  that  he  did  not  feel,  he  knew 
when  the  pressure  was  removed,  and  guided  himself  on  the 
paper.  This  surprised  her,  and  she  quoted  Mr.  Piddington 
as  telling  her  that  the  hand  was  not  sensitive,  because  it 
would  write  whether  it  had  a  pencil  in  it  or  not.  We  replied 
that  that  was  true,  but  that  it  soon  stopped  writing  if  left 
without  a  pencil,  and  after  being  given  the  pencil,  began 
at  the  beginning,  instead  of  continuing.  To  this  she  made 
no  answer,  and  the  conversation  drifted  to  the  next  topic, 
but  these  remarks  should  be  noted  in  connection  with  the 
hand's  behaviour  later  on. 

Dr.  Hall  then  said  that  we  wanted  to  try  a  few  bilateral 
tests,  and  explained  about  mirror  writing.  She  acted  as 
if  this  were  entirely  new  to  her,  and  said  that  she  never 
could  do  it,  but,  after  Dr.  Hall  had  written  his  own  name, 
she  tried,  and  succeeded  tolerably  well  for  the  first  time. 

Dr.  Hall  then  told  her  to  put  her  forefingers  together, 
and  at  the  word  move  them  apart  equal  distances,  illustrat- 
ing himself.  The  right  hand  moved  considerably  farther 
than  the  left. 

She  then  went  through  various  movements  with  both 
hands,  moving  her  fingers,  but  these  were  not  done  in  detail 
enough  to  show  any  asymmetry,  if  there  is  any. 

247 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Naturally,  she  is  left-handed,  she  says,  but  she  seems  to 
do  most  things  with  her  right  hand,  such  as  writing  and 
sewing,  though  she  thinks  that  she  could  use  a  fork  with 
either. 

She  takes  physical  exercises  every  morning,  and  has 
since  her  operation,  especially  to  strengthen  the  abdominal 
muscles. 

Dr.  Hall  then  tried  to  hypnotise  her  again,  having  her 
close  her  eyes  and  think  of  sleep,  and  after  a  little  I  stroked 
her  head  and  suggested  sleep,  going  into  the  silence  and 
calm,  etc.,  heavy  eyelids,  relaxed  hands.  Her  hands  and 
arms  were  tense,  and  she  did  not  relax  in  the  least,  nor 
seem  to  get  into  even  a  slightly  hypnoidal  state.  With  her 
eyes  still  closed,  Dr.  Hall  asked  her  first  to  repeat  what  he 
said,  and  then  to  answer,  and  just  at  first  she  was  a  little 
confused,  but  after  the  first  two  times  she  did  not  get 
confused.  He  then  asked  her  to  tell  what  she  was  thinking 
about,  and  she  mentioned  the  tablet  in  his  hand.  He  then 
asked  her  to  imagine  a  boat  out  on  Bar  Harbor,  and  she 
said  that  perhaps  she  could  picture  it  after  a  while  if  she 
tried  hard  enough.  Asked  what  she  was  thinking  of  then, 
she  said  the  coil  of  my  hair,  and  laughed,  saying  that  her 
mind  was  always  jumping  about  like  that.  At  this  point 
I  began  to  stroke  her  forehead.  Then  a  bust  of  Shakespeare 
came  into  her  mind,  and  a  sofa  pillow,  but  although  she 
said  she  was  trying  to  sleep  she  could  not  do  it,  and  finally 
the  efi^ort  was  given  up  as  before. 

Dr.  Hall  then  explained  about  the  patellar  reflexes,  and 
she  said  that  she  had  had  them  tested  repeatedly,  once 
within  two  years,  and  that  they  were  alike  on  the  two  sides. 
We  did  not  try  them  therefore. 

Dr.  Hall  made  the  remark  that  she  seemed  to  have  had 
most  things  tried  on  her,  and  she  said  that  she  thought  she 
had,  but  that  the  worst  experience  she  ever  went  through 
was  when  Dr.  Hodgson  set  the  detective  to  watching  her. 
She  spoke  of  that  with  horror. 

248 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

"We  then  reverted  again  to  the  insensitiveness  of  the 
hand,  and  she  said  that  she  had  not  felt  anything  in  it 
until  she  washed  it,  and  the  soap  made  it  smart.  Again 
she  reiterated  that  she  had  absolutely  no  memories  of  what 
went  on  in  the  trance,  not  even  a  sense  of  whether  it  was 
pleasant  or  not,  and  that  the  first  thing  she  remembers  on 
coming  out  of  the  trance  is  the  last  thing  said  on  going 
into  it.  At  this  time  she  had  not  begun  to  go  into  it  except 
for  a  very  slight  heaviness  of  the  eyes,  and  Dr.  Hall  said 
to  her  that  he  wanted  her  to  remember  on  coming  out  of 
the  trance  to  move  both  her  arms  together,  and  that  this 
would  be  the  last  thing  he  would  say.  In  about  thirty -five 
seconds  her  eyes  had  become  slightly  fixed,  and  the  trance 
was  coming  on.  At  11 :13  her  head  dropped,  and  very  soon 
the  hand  and  arm  were  extremely  rigid.  I  should  say  here 
that  just  before  Dr.  Hall  made  this  last  suggestion,  while 
talking  about  the  hand,  she  had  said  that  sometimes  in  the 
trance  it  dashed  about  so  violently  that  it  was  cut  on  the 
edges  of  the  pad  or  table,  and  that  Dr.  Hodgson  would 
then  try  to  hold  it  quiet,  but  that  at  other  times  he  avoided 
touching  it.  And  she  noted  that  although  it  seemed  thus 
insensitive,  at  the  same  time  it  seemed  so  very  delicate  in 
its  discrimination  of  objects  put  into  it,  "  influences,"  etc. 
Dr.  Hall  then  told  her  about  its  handling  the  clicker,  and 
how  it  seemed  to  feel  that  so  acutely,  and  we  both  remarked 
that  on  the  whole  the  hand  was  quiet  with  us,  that  it  did 
not  bang  about,  etc.,  scarcely  any.  I  thought  that  she 
seemed  a  little  incredulous  of  this,  though  she  did  not  con- 
tradict us.  At  the  same  time,  she  said  that  she  thought 
that  a  sitter's  nervousness  probably  did  affect  the  charac- 
ter of  the  sittings.  I  said  that  I  felt  sure  of  that,  too,  and 
asked  her  how  she  thought  they  modified  them.  She  did 
not  reply  very  definitely,  but  I  gathered  that  in  some  in- 
stances she  thought  she  got  things  from  their  minds. 

Now,  in  connection  with  these  remarks  about  the  quiet- 
ness of  the  hand  and  its  writing  without  a  pencil  at  the  be- 
19  249 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ginning  of  the  sitting,  note  the  behaviour  of  the  hand  when 
the  trance  came  on  this  time.  It  clenched  more  violently 
than  usual,  the  hand  doubling  back  upon  the  wrist  as  it 
usually  does  only  when  Hodgson  arrives,  and  then  it  began 
writing  without  the  pencil,  wrote  for  two  lines,  paused  as 
if  udicertain,  but  then  continued — as  it  had  not  done  at 
other  times  when  not  given  a  pencil — just  as  if  it  recalled 
the  previous  bits  of  conversation  and  intended  to  act  as  if 
it  were  insensitive,  but  had  forgotten  its  behaviour  in  previ- 
ous trances  under  such  conditions.  Dr.  Hall  then  touched 
it  lightly  on  the  back  with  the  pencil  point,  Avith  no  effect, 
and  finally  put  the  pencil  between  the  second  and  third 
fingers,  which  the  hand  seemed  to  feel,  but  dully,  and 
finally  he  put  the  pencil  in  the  usual  position,  when  the  hand 
began  with  its  usual  greeting,  showing  that  it  knew  it  had 
not  been  using  the  pencil  up  to  that  time. 

We  return  to  earth  once  more  to-day  with  peace  and 
love,  -f     (E.) 

[Throughout  the  sitting  the  writing  was  more  rapid  and 
illegible  than  usual  and  the  hand  more  vehement,  strengthen- 
ing my  idea  that  there  was  some  memory  of  the  previous  con- 
versation, and  an  attempt  to  act  so  as  to  contradict  our 
statements.] 

(Now,  Rector,  wait  awhile,  please,  before  calling  Hodgson, 
and  let  me  talk  to  you.  I  want  to  ask  you  something  about 
Mrs.  Piper.     You  can  tell  us  where  she  lives,  surely.) 

[Here  as  in  the  other  sittings  the  questions  are  not  worded 
exactly  as  given.] 

Do  you  mean  the  light? 

(Yes.     Can  you  tell  me  where  the  light  lives?) 

No,  friend.     I  am  sure  it  is  a  country  called  America. 

(Very  well.  Rector.  Now,  will  you  please  repeat  the  ques- 
tion I  ask;  not  answer,  but  repeat:  How  old  are  you?) 

How  are  you? 

(Now  answer  the  question :  How  old  are  you  ?) 

No,  that  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  waste  light  on. 

(All  right.     Now,  please  give  me  one  or  two  association 

250 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    TIPER 

words,  write  the  first  word  that  occurs  to  you,  the  first  word 
that  girl  suggests.) 

Not  much  of  anything  to  me. 

(Very  good.     Now,  does  compass  suggest  anything  to  you  ?) 

No,  friend.     I  do  not  think  I 

(Now,  Rector,  can  you  raise  the  other  arm  of  the  light?) 

No,  friend,  that  is  not  for  use. 

(Well,  can  you  tap  with  your  right  foot?) 

I  have  no  feet  here  while  speaking. 

(Very  well,  Rector.  Now,  then,  please  call  Hodgson,  but 
do  it  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  control  the  body  of  the  light.) 

[While  saying  this  Dr.  Hall  held  against  the  hand  his  silk 
handkerchief,  crumpled  into  a  ball.] 

I  do  not  UD  you  well.     You  must  not  destroy  my  hearing. 

[Dr.  Hall  repeated  the  question  again,  with  the  handker- 
chief away.] 

I  will  call  him  presently. 

[Again,  in  a  muffled  voice  with  handkerchief  close  to  his 
mouth.] 

I  do  not  hear  you,  repeat  again. 

[Again,  with  handkerchief  between  his  mouth  and  the  hand, 
so  that  no  vibrations  struck  the  hand,  but  the  hand  did  not 
feel  that  the  handkerchief  was  near  as  it  did  the  first  time. 
Doubtless  the  control  heard,  the  first  time  the  question  was 
asked,  but  feeling  the  handkerchief  packed  into  the  hand,  it 
tried  to  keep  up  the  illusion  that  its  ear  is  there.] 

-j-  will  notify  me  when  he  can  come.     Imperator  will. 

(Very  well,  Imperator.     We  want  Hodgson,  please.) 

Do  not  be  impatient,  he  will  be  here  presently.  He  is 
anticipating  meeting  you  to-day.     (R.) 

[The  hand  then  began  to  cramp  very  violently  and  to  dash 
itself  abo\it  upon  the  table  with  great  force,  and  wrote,] 

Hello,  Hall,  I'm  here  again. 

(Glad  to  see  you,  Hodgson,  but  be  a  little  quieter,  please. 
You  will  hurt  the  light,  and  we  can't  read  your  writing.) 

Am  I  [unintelligible  words]  of  it.  [More  unintelligible 
words.] 

(A  little  more  slowly,  please,  Hodgson.  Don't  be  so  im- 
petuous, and  write  more  plainly.) 

251 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Hall,  I  say  I  was  not  conscious  of  I  being  violent.     Pardon. 

(That's  all  right,  Hodgson,  but  we  don't  want  you  to  ex- 
haust yourself.) 

Don't  you  worry  about  me. 

(Nor  waste  the  light.) 

You  think  you  are  so  clever. 

(Well,  but  you  must  be  quieter,  you  know.)     [Tanner.] 

Tell  that  lady  to  speak  slowly  if  she  wishes  me  to  UD. 

(Now,  Hodgson,  at  the  last  sitting  you  said  that  you  could 
not  raise  the  light's  other  hand  then,  but  that  you  would  do 
it  to-day.     Will  you  please  try  now,  try  very  hard?) 

I  will  certainly  try  hard.  Hall,  this  reservoir  is  filled  with 
ether  from  one  side. 

(Now,  if  you  try  this,  and  leave  as  you  said  you  would, 
can  you  return  to-day,  Hodgson?) 

No,  not  to-day.  I  could  go  if  you  wish  at  any  time  and 
give  it  up  for  to-day. 

(But  could  you  not  move  the  light's  other  hand?) 

I  could  not  do  this  without  going  out  entirely. 

(Could  you  not  come  back  after  you  had  done  it?) 

No.     I  should  be  obliged  to  leave,  entirely. 

(But  I  should  think  you  might  come  back  afterwards.) 

I  UD  the  conditions  here  better  than  anyone  else. 

(Very  well,  Hodgson.     Then  stay  and  let  the  other  go.) 

I  will. 

(Now,  Hodgson,  please  listen,  for  I  have  some  important 
questions  to  ask  you.  First,  can  you  tell  me  the  name  of  the 
Watseka  girl  whom  you  investigated?) 

I  referred  to  her  long  ago  when  I  first  passed  over.  I  do 
not  like  your  arrangements. 

[After  seeing  that  Mrs.  Piper's  head  was  right,  etc.,  we 
found  that  the  writing  table  was  placed  so  as  to  put  the  hand 
and  arm  in  a  strained  position,  and  it  was  pulled  closer  to 
Mrs.  Piper,] 

I  wish  to  get  the  words  better.    Good. 

[Dr.  Hall  then  repeated  the  question  about  the  Watseka 
girl.] 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  could  recall  at  the  moment.  [I  am 
not  sure  was  rewritten  several  times,  before  we  could  read  it.] 

252 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(Very  well.  Now,  I  sent  you  once  a  man  from  Worcester, 
who  did  some  very  remarkable  drawing:,  and  you  published 
several  articles  about  him.     Can  you  tell  me  his  name?) 

Was  his  name  Donaldson? 

(Why,  maybe  it  was!  Now,  can  you  tell  me  the  name  of 
the  young  lady  you  were  once  engaged  to  ?) 

Yes,  if  you  promise  not  to  speak  of  it  in  a  way  to  injure 
her. 

(Oh,  surely,  Hodgson.     We  will  be  very  careful.) 

J— T— D— 

(Thank  you  very  much,  Hodgson.  Now,  can  you  describe 
Madam  Blavatsky's  shrine?) 

Yes,  but  can't  you  coot.     [This  last  word  was 

rewritten  several  times  until  I  exclaimed  that  he  meant  Koot 
Hoomi,  when  the  hand  paused.] 

[Dr.  Hall  then  asked  him  again  to  describe  the  shrine,  and 
the  hand  went  through  movements  as  if  outlining  it  in  the  air. 
Then  there  was  some  reference  not  taken  down,  some  remark 
made  by  Dr.  Hall  or  myself,  to  which  the  hand  wrote  some 
unintelligible  words. 

Dr.  Hall  then  made  quite  a  little  speech  to  Hodgson.  First 
he  said  to  Hodgson  that  he  had  never  met  him  while  alive,  and 
that  he  thought  he  was  rather  familiar  to  be  calling  him,  "  old 
chap  "  and  "  Hall."] 

I  do  not  care  a  fig  about  that  now,  I  wish  to  help  you  in 
understanding  psychical  phenomena. 

(Yes,  but  I  think  you  are  rather  familiar,  considering  that 
we  never  met.) 

I  would  as  soon  call  you  old  chap  as  anything.  I  would  as 
soon  call  you  old  chap  as  Hall. 

(Well,  now,  Hodgson,  I  have  experimented  with  several 
mediums,  just  as  you  did  when  you  were  alive,  and  I  have 
been  experimenting  with  you  just  as  you  used  to  with  others. 
Now,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  what  I  have  done  and  see  what 
you  have  to  say.  You  make  a  great  fuss  about  your  influence. 
Well,  I  substituted  a  lot  of  my  old  ties  for  yours  and  you  never 
knew  the  diiference.     What  do  you  say  to  that  ?) 

I  saw  your  old  influence.  I  saw  and  thought  you  intended 
them  for  me. 

253 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(Well,  that's  pretty  thin,  Hodgson.  You  can  hardly  expect 
us  to  believe  that.) 

I  give  you  my  word  that  I  did. 

(Well,  what  do  you  say  to  this,  Hodgson.  I  asked  you  to 
call  Bessie  Beals,  and  there  is  no  such  person.  How  do  you 
explain  that?) 

Bessie  Beals  is  here,  and  not  the 

[At  this  point  we  laughed  and  I  made  some  remark  to  the 
effect  that  that  was  just  what  we  had  said  Hodgson  would  do, 
and  the  hand  continued  thus,] 

I  know  a  Bessie  Beals.  Her  mother  asked  about  her  before. 
Mother  asked  about  her  before. 

(I  don't  know  about  that,  Hodgson.  Bessie  Beals  is  a  pure 
fiction.) 

I  refer  to  a  lady  who  asked  me  the  same  thing  and  the 
same  name. 

(Guess  you  are  wrong  about  that,  Hodgson.) 

Yes,  I  am  mistaken  in  her.  I  am  mistaken.  Her  name 
was  not  Bessie,  but  Jessie  Beals. 

(Now,  Hodgson,  I  want  to  talk  to  you  a  little.  Wait  awhile, 
and  listen  until  I  am  done.  Now,  I  am  going  to  be  honest 
with  you  and  tell  you  that  you  have  not  convinced  us  that  you 
are  Hodgson.  You  are  just  Mrs.  Piper's  idea  of  Hodgson,  or 
else  you  are  my  old  friend  Borst.  Mrs.  Piper  is  a  remarkable 
woman  to  make  you  seem  so  lifelike  and  vivid,  but  neverthe- 
less I  am  sure  you  are  not  Hodgson,  but  her  secondary  per- 
sonality or  else  Borst.  You  are  not  Mrs.  William  Piper  but 
Mrs.  Hodgson  Piper,  and  I  want  you  either  to  fade  away  into 
her  or  into  Borst.  I  transfer  all  the  esteem  and  admiration 
I  have  felt  for  you  to  Mrs.  Piper  Second  or  to  Borst.  She  is 
honest,  and  honestly  thinks  it  is  you,  but  you  are  really  only 
herself  or  else  Borst,  and  you  can  take  your  choice  which. 
Imperator  and  Rector  are  real,  noble  spirits,  but  you  must 
confess  that  you  are  not  Hodgson,  but  Mrs.  Piper  Second  or 
Borst,  and  then  you  and  I  will  say  good-bye  to  each  other 
forever.) 

[In  reply  to  this  the  control  tried  to  divert  us  by  referring 
to  some  private  affairs  totally  unconnected  with  the  sitting,  to 
which  Dr.  Hall  replied:] 

254 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

(This  is  evading  the  question.  I  say  you  are  not  Hodgson, 
and  I  want  you  to  fade  away,  to  become  Borst  or  Mrs.  Piper 
Second.) 

Look  here.  Hall,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  talk  like 
that. 

(No,  Hodgson,  I  am  not  ashamed.  I  am  honest  in  this, 
and  I  want  you  to  know  just  what  I  think  before  we  say 
good-bye.) 

I  UD,  and  I  have  been  the  same  as  far  as  it  has  been 
possible. 

(Very  well,  Hodgson,  you  are  honest,  too,  so  which  shall 
I  call  you,  Borst  or  Mrs.  Piper  Second?) 

You  can't  call  me  either  and  be  a  comrade  of  mine. 

(Now,  I  want  you  just  to  humour  me,  and  let  me  call  you 
one  or  the  other.) 

I  am  neither.  I  am  Hodgson,  and  I  am  perfectly  sure  of 
my  own  identity. 

(I  wish  I  was.     But  I'm  going  to  call  you  Borst.) 

Don't.     Don't  do  that. 

(Why  not?) 

Because  I  have  felt  so  keenly,  I  have  felt  so  keenly  [Writ- 
ing through  here  illegible  and  had  to  be  rewritten  frequently.] 
your  various  whoppers  all  this  time 

[We  made  some  incredulous  remarks  to  each  other,  laughr 
ing  at  his  inability  to  explain  his  various  mistakes,  and  he 
went  on:] 

I  think  I  told  you  so  before. 

[Which  he  certainly  had  not,  having  been  trustful  to  the 
point  of  credulity.] 

(Now,  just  as  a  matter  of  repetition,  to  oblige  me  repeat 
the  words,  "  I  am  not  Hodgson.") 

No.    I  am  Hodgson. 

(Very  well,  this  ends  it  then.  You  can't  convince  me,  and 
I  am  going  to  say  good-bye,  forever.) 

I  do  not  expect  to  convince  you  in  the  least. 

(Now  then,  Hodgson,  tell  me,  wasn't  I  justified  in  all  this 
deception,  for  the  sake  of  finding  you  out?  You  have  done 
the  same  thing  yourself,  you  know.     Wasn't  I  justified?) 

Perfectly. 

255 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

(I  want  to  say  to  you  now  that  I  think  you  are  hurting  the 
cause  you  represent  by  pretending  to  be  Hodgson.  I  think 
you  ought  to  fade  away  and  give  place  to  Rector.) 

I  feel  you  are  not  wholly  responsible  for  the  deception  I 
feel  you  brought  more  or  less  from  the  beginning 

[We  were  bewildered  here,  but  finally  said  to  each  other 
that  he  meant  we  brought  false  "  influences  "  from  the  begin- 
ning, to  which  the  hand  replied:] 

No,  you  do  not  UD  me.  I  say  you  brought  more  or  less 
deception  from  the  beginning  which  I  was  aware  of. 

(Well,  we  won't  discuss  that.  Now,  Mrs.  Piper  Second,  do 
you  know  anyone  with  the  name  Owl's  Eyes?) 

Hall,  I  insist  upon  being  treated  with  respect. 

(I  am  treating  you  with  the  greatest  respect.) 

[The  hand  wrote  very  illegibly,  and  had  to  repeat  three 
times  before  we  could  read :] 

Thank  you. 

(But  I  want  you  to  humour  me  and  be  Mrs.  Piper  awhile.) 

Good-bye.     I  hope  you  will  UD  later. 

(Tell  me  whether  you  know  anyone  called  Owl's  Eyes.) 

If  you  properly  address  me. 

(Very  well.  Tell  me,  Borst,  whether  you  know  anyone 
called  Owl's  Eyes.) 

Don't  be  absurd,  Hall.  Let  me  say  that  I  can  take  a  joke 
as  well  as  I  ever  did,  bvit  I  cannot  be  catechised  all  the  time. 

(Tell  me  how  large  I  am.) 

I  do  not  see  your  actual  body.     I  see  your  spiritual  body. 

(Well,  since  you  will  not  let  me  call  you  what  you  are,  I 
must  say  good-bye  forever.     Good-bye.) 

I  am  sorry  for  you  but  you  cannot  help  it.  You  are  you 
and  I  am  I. 

(My  last  word  to  you  is.  Fade,  and  never  come  back  again.) 

Thanks  for  the  suggestion.     Very  good  one. 

(Act  on  it,  then.     Good-bye.) 

Good-bye  if  you  will,  it  from  me  to  say  adieu. 

I  will  see  you  on  this  side  and  will  have  it  out  then. 

(We'll  part  forever  till  then.) 

Your  [illegible  word  often  rewritten  until  finally  we  make 
it  out  to  be]  friend  says  good-bye  too.     I  will  repeat  later  to 

256 


SIXTH    SITTING    WITH    MRS.    PIPER 

[words  scrawled  over  and  unintelligible]  her.  I  will  repeat 
later,  to  her. 

(You  may  go  now,  but  when  Mrs.  Piper  is  coming  out  of 
the  trance,  make  her  move  both  her  arms  and  repeat  ques- 
tions after  me,  when  you  are  leaving  here  and  she  is  coming 
back.) 

I  thank  you  but  I  will  go  when  I  am  ready. 

(Do  you  want  us  to  leave  Mrs.  Piper  alone?) 

[The  control  did  not  seem  to  UD  this  at  first,  so  Dr.  Hall 
repeated :] 

(We  are  going  home  now;  we  cannot  stay  here  any  longer; 
do  you  want  us  to  leave  Mrs.  Piper  alone  in  the  trance?) 

I  feel  it  would  be  wiser  that  you  remain  until  I  depart. 

(Well,  how  long  is  it  going  to  take  you  to  go?  We  have 
to  go  soon.) 

I  must  go  very  soon. 

(Very  well.     Good-bye.) 

I  am  glad  to  have  seen  you  after  all.  Good-bye  now,  Rich- 
ard Hodgson.  Adieu.  +  We  cease  now  and  may  the  blessing 
of  God  rest  on  you.     (R.) 

SUBLIMINAL 

At  12 :  20  Mrs.  Piper  began  to  come  out  of  her  trance,  and 
at  12 :  26  Dr.  Hall  asked  her  if  she  saw  Hodgson,  but  got  no 
answer.     Immediately   afterwards  she  began  to  talk — 

Mother — Hello — There's  Bessie. 

[Her  left  hand  was  rather  restless,  moving  about  on  the 
pillow,  though  usually  it  is  quiet.  When  she  is  coming  out 
of  the  trance,  the  contractions  of  her  face  seem  to  be  toward 
the  left,  the  smile  being  only  on  the  left,  the  mouth  drawn  far 
over  to  the  left.] 

Mother  .  .  cross. 

[Dr.  Hall  made  waving  movements  of  the  arms  in  front  of 
her,  at  short  intervals,  but  obtained  no  response  at  all,  nor  did 
she  mimic  him.  She  then  caught  sight  of  her  left  hand, 
studied  it  intently,  and  finally  said: 

A-a-ah,  awful.     I  saw  a  lady  .  .  and  Mr.  Myers  .  . 

[Then  she  caught  sight  of  me,  studied  me,  and  said :] 

You  don't  look  nice,  do  you  ?    Are  you  in  the  body  ?    Aches. 

257 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

[Holding  her  right  hand.  This  nearly  always  happens.] 
You're  getting  larger.     Snaps. 

[Throughout,  her  left  hand  moved  considerably,  she  rested 
her  head  on  it,  an  attitude  she  has  never  taken  before,  and 
perhaps  in  this  way  she  showed  an  indirect  effect  of  the  sug- 
gestion to  make  bilateral  movements.  She  says  that  always 
after  a  trance  there  is  a  slight  numbness  in  both  hands.] 

When  she  had  come  out  of  the  trance  she  asked  if  we 
■were  not  coming  again,  and  we  said  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible now,  but  that  perhaps  in  the  fall  we  should  renew  the 
sittings,  if  there  were  time  before  she  went  to  England. 
She  asked  us  whether  we  had  reached  any  conclusions,  and 
we  had  considerable  discussion  here.  We  said  that  we  had 
not  yet  formulated  our  results,  and  felt  that  we  had  found 
many  difficult  and  baffling  things,  that  really  we  had 
been  finding  out  how  to  work.  Dr.  Hall  said  that  the  most 
baffling  thing  to  him  was  that  no  memories  of  the  trance 
ever  came  into  consciousness,  even  in  the  form  of  feeling 
states,  and  again  she  reiterated  that  she  never  had  any 
memories  at  all.  In  various  ways  she  showed  again  that  she 
believed  in  the  spiritistic  theory. 

I  asked  her  what  she  thought  of  Mr.  Piddington's  re- 
port, especially  the  sections  on  the  Latin  Message,  and  she 
said  that  she  thought  it  was  "  perfectly  extraordinary." 
She  talked  about  this  at  some  length,  seeming  to  be  per- 
fectly sincere  and  credulous  in  her  wonder  at  what  the 
control  had  accomplished. 

She  was  evidently  very  curious  to  know  whether  we  were 
at  all  convinced  and  kept  looking  at  both  of  us  with  a  con- 
templative, questioning  gaze,  and  when  we  said  good-bye, 
and  thanked  her  for  her  personal  courtesy,  the  last  thing 
that  we  saw  was  that  same  questioning  gaze. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

CURRENT   NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

I  BEGIN  to  suspect  that  we  can  reduce  her  control, 
Hodgson,  at  least  to  a  secondary  personality  or  to  a  part, 
mood,  or  impersonation  of  ]\Irs.  Piper,  and  perhaps  make 
him  confess  that  he  is  so.  These  controls  are  often  entirely 
indistinguishable  the  one  from  the  other ;  and  he  grows  less 
Hodgsonesque  during  the  progress  of  each  sitting  and  is 
less  so  as  the  series  of  sittings  proceeds.  Is  the  control  so 
suggestible  that  he  can  be  made  to  fade  into  a  mere  state  of 
mind  of  the  medium,  and  even  perhaps  to  confess  that  he  is 
nothing  more  substantial  than  her  trancoidal  dream  ?  Can 
this  be  done  successively  with  all  her  controls?  What  is 
our  responsibility  for  constraining  them  to  commit  this 
kind  of  slow  suicide  ?  Shall  we  be  accessories  to  the  crime 
of  ghostly  felo  de  sef  Man  can  kill  the  body,  but  can  a 
psychologist  also  desecrate  souls  ?  This  very  question  almost 
suggests  the  awful  second  death  of  theology,  and  chimes 
in  well  with  the  theory  that  the  soul  survives  the  death  of 
the  body  a  while,  but  may  itself  go  out  later.  Then,  too, 
why  should  we  lay  these  poor  ghosts,  who  doubtless  enjoy 
their  rather  pallid  lives  up  to  the  full  measure  of  their 
capacities  1  Perhaps,  too,  our  process  of  extermination  may 
not  be  painless  but  may  involve  suffering  akin  to  slow 
poisoning,  a  surgical  operation,  or  vivisection,  and  we  shall 
need  also  to  defend  it  from  the  sentimentalists  as  all  in  the 
cause  of  science,  and  especially  for  the  sake  of  practical 
therapeutics.  It  is  not  exorcism  of  evil  spirits,  for  that 
would  be  a  duty,  but  these  controls  are  harmless  and  inno- 
cent, if  not  highly  meritorious  and  dignified,  ghosts. 

259 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

We  have,  however,  slowly  drifted  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  are  not  real  ghosts  that  survive  death  in  some  trans- 
cendental realm,  but  only  pseudo  or  simulacral  spirits; 
so  that  it  is  against  these  impostors  that  we  prepare 
a  I'outrance  with  our  false  ambuscades,  strategies,  springes, 
and  traps;  so  that  even  if  we  are  to  be  veritable  assassins 
we  yet  are  not  red-handed,  for  our  thirst  is  only  for  the 
gory  ichor  or  blue  blood  in  the  Jenseits.  Let  us  then  go 
scalp-hunting  for  these  phantoms  in  the  interests  of  the 
psychic  integrity  of  Mrs.  Piper,  and  in  the  hope  of  re- 
solving them  all  into  her  various  moods  and  tenses  and, 
when  this  is  done,  reuniting  them  under  the  dominion  of 
one  central,  normal  ego,  thus  restoring  her  distraught  soul 
to  unity  and  sanity.  We  burn  with  faith  and  enthusiasm 
to  redintegrate  her  psyche,  and  are  convinced  that  it  needs 
only  time,  patience,  and  subtlety ;  and  our  only  fear  is  that 
we  may  lack  some  measure  of  each  of  these.  But  we  will 
go  far  enough  to  satisfy  at  least  ourselves  of  the  attain- 
ability of  this  goal. 

But  to  attain  this  end  we  must  learn  to  conjure  with 
some  soul-compelling  spell.  What  can  it  be,  and  how  can 
we  use  it?  What  a  miracle  of  psychotherapy  if  one  like 
Mrs.  Piper,  smitten  lo !  these  twenty  years  with  the  malady 
of  a  bifurcated  personality,  can  have  her  cleft  nature  made 
whole  again !  The  restorations  effected  upon  the  patients 
of  Morton  Prince,  Janet,  Sidis,  etc.,  would  pale  before 
this  if  it  could  be  accomplished. 

I  believe  the  spell — if  there  be  one — will  be  found  deep 
down,  mostly  below  the  consciousness  of  Mrs.  Piper's  own 
psyche,  in  a  hidden  wish  to  be  made  sound  again  like  others. 
What  are  the  evidences  of  such  inclination  on  her  part? 
She  wishes  to  go  back  to  the  Orthodox  Church  of  her  early 
life  but  fears  that,  knowing  her  belief  and  vocation,  it 
would  not  welcome  her.  She  is  intelligent  and  reads  good 
literature.  Perusing  as  she  does  the  records  of  all  her 
trances,  she  cannot  avoid  feeling  as  others  do  that  there  is 

260 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

something  not  only  strange,  but  a  little  weird  and  uncanny, 
about  her.  She  may  accept  or  have  accepted  the  interpre- 
tation others  have  put  upon  it  as  spirit  control,  and  do  this 
now  from  habit  reinforced,  no  doubt  unconsciously,  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  for  her  material  interest  to  do  so,  as  conjurers 
once  claimed  the  aid  of  supernal  powers.  While  the  in- 
stinct to  be  again  normal  or  like  others  may  never  have 
risen  above  the  threshold,  there  are  signs  that  it  is  growing 
toward  birth.  Women  do  not  like  to  be  exceptional  curi- 
osities. Again,  she  keeps  her  daughters  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable from  this  side  of  her  life,  and  is  glad  that  they  show 
little  traces  of  mediumship,  and  would  ignore  and  not  culti- 
vate the  possibilities  of  it  that  she  recognises  in  one  of  them. 
Besides,  what  advantage  have  the  spirits  brought  her  save 
a  not  wholly  enviable  fame  and  a  slender  means  of  liveli- 
hood? She  is  looked  at  askance,  carefully  conceals  her 
vocation  from  dwellers  of  other  flats  in  her  own  house,  has 
been  fairly  persecuted  by  reporters  and  exploited  by  the 
press  in  ways  that  she  describes  with  just  indignation. 
True,  her  powers  have  brought  her  into  the  society  of  culti- 
vated and  noted  people,  but  not  as  one  of  them,  and  she 
has  grown  too  refined  to  consort  with  the  common  ruck  of 
spiritualists  and  looks  down  upon  them. 

As  the  change  of  life  slowly  supervenes,  and  with  it 
comes,  as  seems  probable,  some  abatement  of  her  medium is- 
tic  powers,  of  which  we  think  there  are  already  signs,  we 
may  safely  predict  a  progressive  atrophy  of  all  the  sub- 
jective processes  as  well  as  of  vocational  activities  in  this 
direction.  We  can  and  should  help  her  on  toward  this,  by 
at  least  slightly  repressing  the  insistence  of  the  more  domi- 
nant of  her  controls  in  order  that  the  process  of  psychic 
intussusception  of  the  parts  of  this  fissioned  soul  may  begin 
healing  at  the  bottom  before  it  is  too  late. 

The  main  fact  in  the  trance  is  that  the  onlooker  is 
deeply  impressed  with  the  idea  that  she  is  unconscious  of 
everything  in  her  environment,  that  her  soul  is  far  away, 

261 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

and  her  faculties  are  in  abeyance.  Some  of  her  clients 
are  thus  thrown  completely  off  their  guard,  so  that  they 
at  first  whisper,  then  talk  sotto  voce,  and  perhaps  finally 
in  their  natural  tones  very  freely  to  each  other,  feeling 
that  she  is  out  of  their  social  circle  unless,  like  a  deaf  per- 
son, addressed  forte  or  fortissimo.  It  does  seem  at  first 
indeed  a  magic  hand  which  hears  and  writes,  while  the  rest 
of  the  psycho-physic  organism  is  functionally  dead,  and 
the  medium's  soul  is  not  at  home  to  callers  but  far  away. 
Only  the  hand  and  arm  are  vitalised — they  are  sensitive, 
alert,  tense — while  deep  sleep,  twin  brother  of  death, 
shrouds  the  other  parts  and  processes.  Upon  reflection, 
however,  we  realise  that  at  least  the  manual  brain  centres, 
both  sensory  and  motor,  must  be  awake,  with  both  afferent 
and  efferent  innervations  pitched  to  a  high  key.  The  hand 
points,  nods  for  yes,  shakes  for  no,  quivers  with  impatience, 
listens,  gestures  for  silence,  beckons,  with  quite  a  vocabu- 
lary of  signs.  These  centres  in  the  left  hemisphere  then 
are  by  no  means  asleep,  but  have  quite  a  collection  of  re- 
sponses to  outer  stimuli,  so  that  here  at  least  there  seems  a 
break  in  the  dense  cloud  of  sleep  that  has  settled  over  the 
cortex. 

By  contrast  with  this  latter  the  hand  might  well  seem 
to  the  uncritical  observer  as  highly  potentialised.  Yet  the 
writing  is  very  crude  and  coarse,  far  more  rudimentary 
and  childlike  than  that  of  the  medium  when  awake.  This 
suggests  more  or  less  befuddlement  of  the  centres  involved. 
The  script  is  comparable  with  the  blurred  speech  of  an 
inebriate.  Even  when  there  is  a  demand  to  rewrite,  the 
handwriting  is  but  little  improved.  Thus  the  accessory 
muscles  that  make  good  chirography  are  either  asleep,  ob- 
nubilated, or  a  little  sleepy  drunk.  There  is  tension  with- 
out accuracy,  so  that  the  condition  of  the  hand,  arm,  and 
their  centres  suggests  abnormal  or  toxic  agitation.  The 
hand,  too,  is  only  subnormally  sensitive  to  compass  points 
and  other  sense  stimuli.    Thus  the  control  appears  to  have 

262 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

only  a  rather  undervitalised  organ  at  its  disposal.  Mrs. 
Piper  herself  can  do  far  more  and  better  in  any  of  these 
directions  than  can  Rector,  Imperator,  or  Hodgson;  and 
the  latter  at  least  wrote  far  better  when  alive  than  he  can 
do  with  Mrs.  Piper's  hand,  which  is  perhaps  not  surprising, 
for  penmanship  is  probably  not  needed  by  the  spirits  save 
when  they  condescend  to  communicate  with  mortals.  Per- 
haps one  of  the  charms  of  the  hereafter  is  that  there  will 
be  no  books  or  manuscripts  to  pore  over.  Sitters  should 
doubtless  consider  themselves  fortunate  that  the  denizens 
of  the  great  beyond  vouchsafe  them  even  hieroglyphs  to 
decipher  as  best  they  may;  but  why  will  not  some  medium 
offer  them  a  chance  to  use  a  hand  skilled  on  the  typewriter  ? 
It  is  exasperating  to  be  so  often  in  doubt  as  to  these  now 
runic,  now  cluttered  and  stogey,  creeds  which  often  seem  so 
cryptic  and  mystic  as  to  suggest  quite  a  variety  of  words  in 
turn,  even  those  of  foreign  tongues,  which  spirits  are  so 
fond  of  affecting.  Perhaps  these  sign  manuals  are  signals 
or  cryptograms,  such  as  were  so  pregnant  with  meaning  to 
alchemists  and  astrologers,  and  which  would  be  fairly  blaz- 
ing with  significance  if  our  ignorance  of  these  old  drafts 
was  cleared  up.  This  department  of  spirito-logical  inter- 
pretation or  diplomatology  is  yet  to  be  developed;  and 
when  it  is,  it  may  be  that  what  seems  to  our  dull  wit  only 
pot-hooks,  hen-tracks,  blobs,  and  blotches,  will  blaze  with 
anagrammatic  wisdom  that  will  make  the  world  sit  up  and 
listen.  Until  then  we  can  do  no  otherwise  than  believe  that 
Mrs.  Piper's  hand  in  her  trances,  while  alert  and  active  in 
a  general  way,  is  specifically  both  clumsy  and  obtuse, 
nervous  but  half  asleep,  loquacious  but  mumbling,  yielding 
itself  but  unwillingly  and  bunglingly  to  compulsion  from 
some  higher,  other  than  manual  centre.  The  spelling  is 
generally  correct;  and  spelling  is  a  higher  function  than 
writing,  and  so  we  are  invited  to  look  above  for  the  seat 
of  the  alert  control  that  seems  to  stand  out  like  an  oasis  in 
the  heart  of  a  great  desert  of  somnolence. 

263 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

It  is  vital  to  remember,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  left 
ear  is  certainly  awake,  because  over  and  over  murmured 
words,  between  those  present,  steps,  rustles,  laughs,  and 
many  other  noises  are  heard  and  reacted  to,  sometimes  un- 
expectedly, by  the  writer.  It  is  the  ear,  of  course,  that 
hears  what  is  spoken  into  the  hand.  The  establishment  of 
this  fact  is  of  great  significance.  The  clever  trickster  might 
have  reasoned  out  a  scheme  of  impressing  the  sitters  with 
the  idea  that  they  must  shout  into  the  hand  and  that  all 
else  was  lost,  so  that  they  would  thus  be  thrown  off  their 
guard,  while  the  intently  listening  ear  would  catch  and 
utilise  for  the  manual  responses  all  that  was  said  to  each 
other.  The  keener  the  audition  and  the  more  deft  the  hand, 
the  wider  the  range  of  oral  impartation  from  whispering 
to  shouting  that  would  be  profited  by.  With  Mrs.  Piper 
we  believe  this  method  was  not  a  project  of  strategy  or  de- 
signed, but  a  slow,  unconscious  evolution.  Thus,  responses 
and  statements  are  written  that  fairly  smite  with  wonder 
the  incautious  and  uncritical  sitter,  who  naively  allows  him- 
self to  fall  into  the  assumption  which  the  method  suggests 
that  the  control  hears  nothing  but  what  is  loudly  spoken 
into  the  hand.  The  sitters  have  really  thought  aloud  and 
communicated  in  low  tones  to  others,  feeling  as  secure 
against  betrayal  as  if  their  thoughts  were  unspoken,  and, 
perhaps,  indeed,  not  conscious  that  they  had  been  put  in 
articulate  form.  Thus,  when  natural  answers  come  back, 
they  seem  veritable  mind-reading  or  marvellous  illustra- 
tions of  the  pellucidity  of  the  sitters'  souls  to  the  celestial 
visitant. 

Now,  it  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  stenographic  rec- 
ords have  rarely  been  kept,  even  of  the  ipsissima  verba, 
that  are  consciously  said  to  the  control  by  the  sitters.  Even 
our  record,  which  was  made  as  full  as  long  hand  could  be, 
does  not  do  this.  This  is  because  the  feeling  has  been  that 
the  important  things  of  the  sitting  came  from  the  medium, 
when  the  exact  reverse  is  true.     Everything  that  is  really 

264 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

significant  comes  from  the  sitters.  Far  less  has  there  been 
any  stenographic  record  of  things  said  loud  or  low  in  the 
room,  where  there  frequently  are  at  least  two  if  not  more 
visitors  present.  Under  the  conditions  of  the  sitting,  the 
temptation  is  incessant  to  carry  on  considerable  conversa- 
tion, to  express  secret  plans,  and  purposes  and  methods  that 
betray  answers;  and  all  with  the  same  feeling  of  security 
that  we  have,  as  I  said,  in  speaking  before  the  deaf.  Such 
talk  is,  much  of  it,  almost  immediately  forgotten,  if,  indeed, 
it  was  conscious  even  at  the  time.  Yet  in  this  is  the  source 
of  supply  from  which  the  control  garners  most  of  its 
knowledge  of  us.  There  are,  of  course,  inflections,  too, 
movements,  slight  noises,  etc.,  which  are  more  or  less  signifi- 
cant. Often,  especially  in  our  characterisations  of  both  real 
and  fictitious  dead  friends,  we  have  only  given  the  name 
and  a  few  salient  facts  to  the  ear,  adding  various  details 
in  a  low  voice  to  Mr.  Dorr  and  Dr.  Tanner,  while  the  hand 
was  writing,  which,  however,  insistently  utilised  these 
sources  of  information  by  incorporating  reactions  in  the 
script,  while  we  tried  not  to  be  remiss  in  the  expressions  of 
wonder  which  seemed  to  be  the  usual  and  proper  thing 
under  such  circumstances.  Thus,  the  auditory  centres  were 
not  asleep  but  seemed  in  full  function,  and  at  first  we 
thought  that  there  was  some  hyperacuity,  although  we  were 
not  infrequently  asked  to  repeat  as  if  to  keep  up  the  illusion 
that  the  hand  was  hard  of  hearing.  Yet  here,  too,  subse- 
quent observation  suggests  obtuseness  and  subnormality, 
that  while  the  ear  heard,  it  did  so  dimly  and  sleepily,  or 
else  tended  to  drop  off  into  the  slumber  in  which  the  eye 
and  other  orienting  faculties  were  wrapped.  On  the  whole, 
we  incline  to  the  idea  that,  although  we  have  here  the 
source  of  by  far  most  of  the  information  the  control  seems 
to  possess  that  appears  supernormal,  that  the  ear  itself  in 
point  of  fact  is  not  very  wide  awake,  and  most  of  the  time 
is  only  a  little  above  the  middle  state  between  sleeping  and 
waking.  Mrs.  Piper  used  to  speak  in  her  trances  as  well 
20  265 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

as,  or  instead  of,  writing;  but  of  late  oral  communications 
seem  to  have  sunk  below  the  threshold  or  gone  over  to  join 
the  majority  of  dormant  powers. 

Thus,  by  the  process  of  elimination,  we  seem  to  be  re- 
ferred at  last  to  the  higher  psychic  powers,  whether  of  the 
medium  or  the  control,  to  explain  the  patness  and  sagacity 
of  the  writings.  Somewhere  in  the  supreme  centres,  where 
attention  and  apperception  hold  their  court,  must  be 
sought  the  subtle  mentation  displayed  in  the  rapt  state  of 
this  seeress.  If  we  admit  hand  and  eye  a  little  subnormal 
in  their  powers,  this  warrants  the  inference  of  all  the  more 
marvellous  activities  of  some  superconsciousness.  The  worse 
the  tools,  the  more  clever  the  artist.  Here,  if  anywhere,  the 
celestial  visitor,  with  vision  clarified  of  mortal  dross,  uses 
the  implements  of  flesh  to  impart  revelations  of  supernal 
wisdom.  What,  in  fact,  do  we  receive  from  these  supreme 
altitudes  ?  We  must  answer,  in  general,  considerable  mem- 
ory of  names  and  incidents  across  the  interval  of  from  ten 
days  to  two  weeks  between  sittings,  but  this  is  faint  and 
iLsually  needs  suggestion  to  reawaken  it.  There  is  also 
much  deftness  and  rapidity  in  catching  on  to  all  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  moment,  which  are  not,  however,  always 
very  persistent  but  tend  to  fade.  There  is  some  blunder- 
ing, occasionally  complete  forgetfulness.  We  find  no  trace 
of  any  power  to  distinguish  the  lie  from  sincerity,  or 
error  from  truth,  but  instead  a  precipitate  readiness  to 
accept  any  suggestion  whatever,  no  matter  how  inconsist- 
ent with  other  incidents.  There  is  not  the  slightest  power 
of  continued  and  coherent  impartation  or  discourse,  but 
only  platitudinous  generalisations,  ejaculations,  trite  com- 
monplaces, vagueness  in  the  answers  of  definite  questions, 
and  shiftiness,  evasion,  postponement  galore,  fondness  for 
phrases  that  mean  anything,  occasional  lapses  to  bathos 
and  twaddle,  and  sudden  forgetfulness  and  vacuity  in  the 
middle  of  sentences,  as  if  "  the  light  "  suddenly  went  out. 
The  association  experiments  and  reactions  suggest  a  low 

266 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

type  of  mentality,  inferior,  on  the  whole,  if  only  because 
less  controlled  and  revised,  than  the  longer  reactions  of  the 
waking  state.  The  only  spontaneous  impartations  in  the 
whole  series  of  sittings  are  a  few  personal  names,  allasions 
to  a  mole,  a  scar,  a  book,  a  baby,  several  diseases,  scenes, 
and  incidents,  etc. ;  and  these  were  lightly  dropped  as  hints, 
and  each  of  those  that  were  reacted  to,  and  only  those,  were 
developed  more  or  less  in  whatever  direction  and  to  what- 
ever extent  we  gave  the  cue.  These  we  interpreted  as  fish- 
ing, hints  for  us  to  follow  up  in  case  any  of  them  hap- 
pened to  fit.  As  mind-reading  the  whole  performance  is 
more  clumsy  than  a  deft  normal  person,  who  uses  mainly 
muscular  reactions,  could  achieve. 

On  the  whole,  indeed,  we  already  realise  how  ineffably 
dull  and  boresome  these  sittings  would  become  if  they 
had  to  be  followed  up  too  long  or  held  too  frequently.  We 
dishonour  our  immortal  parts  by  thinking  that  we  find  them 
here.  Supernormal  agencies  have  always  been  supposed  to 
exist  where  man's  knowledge  was  least  developed.  Once 
they  were  found  amidst  the  phenomena  of  storm,  lightning, 
cloud,  eclipse,  heavenly  bodies,  beneath  the  earth  or  the 
sea,  in  the  "  resurgam  "  motive  of  springtime,  in  the  mi- 
grations of  birds,  and  the  appearance  of  entrails,  when  the 
courses  of  these  phenomena  were  still  unknown.  Now 
there  are  tcrrce,  incognitce  where  these  mystic  agents  are 
sought — those  which  are  merely  dynamic  are  sought  in 
electricity,  and  those  that  are  psychic  in  the  subconscious 
soul  of  men.  In  the  latter,  the  supernals  good  and  bad 
have  always  had  a  stronghold,  but  in  these  days  of  science 
this  is  about  their  last  refuge,  for  they  are  exorcised  from 
their  old  haunts.  As  Spiritists  regard  exceptional  phe- 
nomena in  the  psychic  field  to-day,  just  so  primitive  men 
regarded  all  unusual  or  unknown  processes  throughout  na- 
ture. There  is,  in  fact,  nothing  here  save  what  we  just 
now  have  no  better  name  for  than  a  parasitic  secondary 
personality  that  sometimes  asserts  itself. 

267 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

In  Mrs.  Piper,  the  eye  with  its  primacy  of  function  is 
shunted  out;  so  is  general  sensibility;  probably  her  diges- 
tive, and  certainly  her  respiratory,  functions,  taste,  smell, 
general  tactile  sensibility  and  motor  innervation  are  asleep. 
But,  as  the  tide  ebbs,  there  is  in  her  strangely  configured 
soul  a  singular  land-locked  bay,  where  the  tide  stays  at 
half  ebb  until  it  rises  again  and  reunites  the  bay  with  the 
sea  and  its  forms  of  life,  and  cadences  its  waves  to  those 
of  the  ocean.  Perhaps  we  fish  and  explore  a  little  on  the 
banks  of  this  cut-oft'  inlet  and  wonder  that  it  seems  so 
high  when  the  tide  is  all  out  and  far.  We  think  we  see 
in  its  depths  skyey  objects  which  we  never  see  in  the  ever- 
turbulent  sea.  Sea-rovers,  who  have  never  seen  a  lake, 
come  from  far  and  marvel  at  the  transparency  of  this, 
for  their  eyes  could  never  penetrate  any  depth  of  the  ocean. 
They  bathe  in  it  for  their  diseases,  they  think  it  mystic, 
sacred,  therapeutic,  while  in  the  low  susurrus  of  its  ripples 
on  the  shore,  when  the  breeze  stirs  and  ruffles  its  surface, 
they  find  voices,  and  they  cast  auguries  by  the  ripple-marks. 
They  seem  to  see  straight  down  through  the  very  earth, 
which  is  only  the  heavens  reflected.  They  cast  stones,  and 
the  splashes  say  things;  they  see  their  own  reflection  and 
learn  first  the  powers  of  a  mirror,  and  self-knowledge  is 
begun. 

As  to  the  psychic  activity  of  the  control,  which  goes  on 
between  sittings,  this  must  be  granted :  not  infrequently  in 
our  and  in  other  sittings  questions  and  stunts  of  various 
kinds  have  been  answered  tentatively  or  postponed  until 
later  sittings,  so  that  there  is  often  a  bunch  of  pledges  of 
further  enlightenment  standing  over,  left  to  be  redeemed. 
This  is  well  calculated  to  stimulate  curiosity  and  to  bring 
the  sitters  back.  Our  exhortation  to  the  control  to  think 
things  over  seems  to  increase  not  only  its  mentation  be- 
tween spells  but  also  the  probability  that  the  dropped  topic 
will  be  taken  up  at  a  later  sitting  without  our  specific  re- 
quest.    Sometimes  matters   that   are   left  over  are  tided 

268 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

along,  perhaps  with  appetising  suggestions  and  partial 
progress  through  a  series  of  successive  sittings,  days  or 
even  weeks  apart.  This  fact  is  interesting,  and  raises  vari- 
ous questions.  We  might  infer  from  it  that  it  is  not  nec- 
essary for  her  to  go  into  a  trance  in  order  that  her  control 
get  in  its  work,  but  that  there  is  a  Herbartian  Bcarhcitung 
of  the  ideas  and  impressions  between  sittings  which  takes 
place  while  she  is  in  her  normal  state.  If  so,  this  process 
would  seem  to  be  essentially  unconscious  to  her  waking 
mind.  If  this  be  the  case,  may  it  be  that  her  secondary  or 
parasitic  personality  depletes  somewhat  the  vigour  of  her 
normal  self  by  diverting  for  its  use  a  part  of  the  sum  total 
of  her  available  psycho-physic  energy  to  its  uses,  as  peo- 
ple surreptitiously  tap  electric  currents,  gas  pipes,  etc.? 
It  certainly  must  cost  more  force  to  keep  two  egos  in  opera- 
tion than  one.  This  would  seem  to  suggest  that  there  is 
double  housekeeping  going  on,  that  two  souls  at  the  same 
time  inhabit  Mrs.  Piper's  body.  On  any  such  assumption 
endless  speculative  questions  present  themselves;  e.  g., 
although  unconscious  of  each  other,  do  the  conscious  and 
subconscious  egos  harmonise,  or  are  they  sometimes  at  cross 
purposes?  Does  sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the  other 
have  the  greater  relative  increment  of  strength  as  interests 
and  situations  in  the  environment  change?  Where  impor- 
tant choices  are  being  made,  does  what  is  in  other  minds 
alternate  weighing  of  reasons,  become  in  Mrs.  Piper's  two 
voices  or  advocates,  reasoning  out  pros  and  cons  with  each 
other — i.  e.,  in  the  crucial  act  of  decisions  where  a  wide 
periscope  must  be  made,  does  either  personality  entirely 
exclude  the  activity  of  the  other?  Or,  again,  shall  we  as- 
sume that  it  is  not  during  the  waking  hours  but  more  prob- 
ably during  Mrs.  Piper's  sleep  that  the  control  has  its 
occasional  innings  and  gets  in  its  work  ?  It  may  sleep  when 
she  wakes  and  wake  while  she  sleeps,  or  tend  to  do  so.  If 
the  latter  be  true,  then  her  normal  sleep  approximates  that 
of  the  trance,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  favors  the  activity  of 

269 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  control.  This  means  a  diurnal  au  rehours  life.  Mrs. 
Piper's  night  is  the  day  of  the  control.  It  comes  out  like 
the  stars  when  the  sun  of  consciousness  sets.  Its  activity 
is  not  unlike  that  of  continued  systematised  dreams  in 
those  cases  where  sleepers  revert  often  to  the  same  topics; 
or  perhaps  even  act  out  in  a  somnambulistic  way  similar 
parts  as  if  in  a  continued  story. 

These  considerations  bring  us  to  the  problem  of  the  re- 
lation between  her  dual  states.  It  seems  incredible  that,  hav- 
ing read  reports  of  all  her  sittings,  there  should  have  been 
in  her  mind  no  glimmer  of  a  deja  vu  experience,  even  the 
faintest,  of  the  most  salient  happenings  in  her  trance.  Pos- 
sibly here,  too,  hypnosis  might  effect  some  junction,  and 
could  probably  be  made  very  effective  in  breaking  down  the 
wall  or  partition  between  her  two  states  and  unifying  her 
life,  but  for  the  "  de-social  and  economic  situation." 
Surely  between  two  souls  in  one  body  there  must  be  some 
percolation  or  seepage. 

There  would  seem  at  least  to  be  some  coentesthesias  or 
common  sensibles  between  the  individuals  that  constitute 
this  strange  pair  of  psychic  Siamese  twins.  Chang  surely 
must  impart  at  least  his  most  general  affectivities  to  Eng. 
Mrs.  Piper  feels  the  fatigue  of  the  control,  for  she  emerges 
from  an  unusually  long,  deep,  or  drastic  trance  exhausted. 
Again,  what  we  were  told  of  one  sitter  suggests  at  least 
that  the  personal  aversion  he  provoked  in  Mrs.  Piper  and 
in  the  control  was  more  or  less  similar  in  kind  and  amount, 
suggesting  that  one  may  influence  the  other  in  the  matter 
of  personal  likes  and  dislikes.  I  fancied  that  I  myself  de- 
tected a  faint  left-over  trace  of  coolness  toward  me  in  Mrs. 
Piper,  after  waking  from  the  third  sitting,  like  the  tenuous 
after-image  of  the  aversion  aroused  in  Hodgson  by  what 
he  thought  was  an  imposition  or  an  attempt  to  deceive  dur- 
ing the  seance.  In  general,  Mrs.  Piper  has  doubtless  so 
often  had  frequent  occasion  to  deny  all  communication  be- 
tween her  two  states  that  she  has  developed  an  idea  of  a 

270 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

water-tight  compartment  between  them,  which  is  becoming 
more  or  less  fixed.  And  so  she  has  grown  unconsciously 
indisposed  to  admit  every  or  any  functional  synapses  be- 
tween the  two  psyches  that  inhabit  her  soma.  It  is  not 
exactly  that  she  has  an  irrevocable  idea  of  their  complete 
duality,  so  much  as  that  the  entire  structure  of  her  theory 
about  herself  rests  very  largely  upon  the  assumption  of  a 
pretty  complete  bifurcation  as  its  corner-stone.  Even 
when  we  try  to  impress  the  dejd  vu  idea  upon  her,  her 
answer  to  the  general  question  is  a  little  too  ready-made  to 
permit  a  candid  reopening  of  the  question  that  shall  in- 
volve anything  like  a  careful  re-review  of  her  experiences 
while  reading  all  her  own  sittings.  She  was  probably  a 
good  way  from  proposing,  as  we  would  like  to  have  had  her 
do,  to  reread  some  characteristic  parts  of  the  record  to  see 
if  she  did  not  find  a  dim  sense  of  familiarity  that  was  un- 
observed before.  She  certainly  cannot,  we  think,  ever  have 
read  these  records  with  this  question  in  the  focus  of  her 
attention,  for  she  did  betray  the  fact  that  our  question  and 
the  thought  it  conveyed  was  new  to  her. 

The  "  control  "  often  injects  into  the  sitting  casual  or 
incidental  words,  phrases,  perhaps  direct  questions,  etc., 
which  are  quite  disconnected  with  the  course  of  thought 
and  unsuggested  by  anything  in  the  conference.  These 
seem  to  be  images  that  occur  spontaneously  and  often  irrel- 
evantly, and  that  lie  quite  outside  the  current  of  associa- 
tions, like  erratic  psychic  boulders  or  dikes  thrust  up 
through  the  stress  of  ideas  and  rupturing  them,  or  like  sug- 
gestions from  another  mind,  so  stray,  random,  and  isolated 
are  they  from  what  goes  before  or  after.  It  is  as  if  an 
independent  spring  of  a  different  order  bubbled  up  beneath 
the  tiny  current  of  a  rivulet.  These  eruptive  ideas  are 
perhaps  an  unique  characteristic  of  this  class  of  minds, 
the  hahitus  of  which  seems  often  to  have  been  much  culti- 
vated. They  almost  suggest  weird  snatches  or  germs  of  an 
alien  personality  trying  to  break  into  consciousness,  but 

271 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

unsuccessfully  save  for  a  moment.  For  this  phenomenon  I 
do  not  find  any  word,  which  is  surely  needed,  so  specifically 
different  is  it  from  what  ordinarily  goes  on  within.  We 
might  call  them  "  psycho-keksids  "  or  psychic  bubbles. 
These  the  medium  apparently  comes  to  lay  very  great  stress 
upon  and  believes  them  to  be  fraught  with  great  signifi- 
cance, while  the  believing  sitter  is  prone  to  regard  them  as 
cues  and  tests,  pregnant  with  meaning,  if  he  can  only  get 
at  it.  Perhaps  they  may  be  conveyed  telepathically  from 
other  minds.  They  challenge  the  attention  of  the  sitter  at 
once,  and  exhort  him  to  a  hasty  periscope  of  his  recent  ex- 
perience to  see  what  he  can  remember.  He  strains  his  mind 
to  match  them  with  something  in  himself:  it  may  be  a 
proper  name,  a  foreign  word  or  two,  a  physical  trait,  scar, 
lameness,  a  book,  accident,  or  any  object,  incident,  or  salient 
event.  The  sitter  feels  urgently  called  upon,  almost  as  if 
by  a  direct  question,  to  seek  an  answering  object  or  event 
within  his  own  life,  knowledge  or  circle  of  acquaintances, 
past  or  present.  It  is  a  sign  demanding  an  interpretation. 
"We  must  find  some  counterpart  or  correspondence  to  fit  it, 
and  if  we  fail  we  feel  that  it  is  somehow  our  fault,  that  we 
are  slow  and  dull  of  apprehension.  The  "  control  "  is 
often  precipitate  and  gives  us  little  time;  he  prefers  our 
reaction  by  first  intention,  as  if  second  thoughts  to  him 
seemed  like  second-hand  goods.  If  a  hit  is  made  and  we  can 
match  the  suggestion,  there  is  often  an  exhilarating  re- 
sponse in  us,  a  kind  of  eureka  sentiment.  The  balance,  in 
which  our  belief  or  unbelief  has  long  hovered  uncertain, 
tips.  It  is  thus  a  crucial  moment  when  we  hear  these 
psycho-keksids  calling  us.  Are  they  tempting  sirens  that 
would  lure  us  to  our  destruction,  or  are  they  angelic  beck- 
onings  to  a  higher  world?  Can  and  shall  we  grasp  these 
lines  thrust  across  the  chasm  that  separates  the  mundane 
from  the  spiritual  world,  and  go  and  build  a  bridge  to  the 
jenseitsf 

Here  psychic  diathesis  and  individual  psychologic  dis- 
272 


CURRENT    NOTES    BY    DR.    HALL 

position  play  an  important  role.  After  one  has  had  a  dozen 
such  provocative  solicitations  in  a  sitting,  he  begins  to  feel 
compulsion  lest  something  be  lacking  on  his  part.  If  he  is 
not  dense,  he  is  at  any  rate  a  trifle  hard  and  unsympa- 
thetic to  refuse  a  whole  series  of  such  gentle  invitations. 
Why  discourage  the  ''  controls  "?  Perhaps  our  souls 
somehow  do  not  ring  true.  Even  common  etiquette  between 
the  denizens  of  two  worlds  would  seem  to  suggest  that  we 
ought  to  meet  the  ghosts  at  least  half-way.  In  this  rather 
tense  state  of  mind,  the  question  is  almost  inevitable  on  the 
sitter's  part  whether  it  be  not  justifiable  in  a  true  re- 
searcher in  this  most  unique  situation  to  feign  at  least  a 
little  interest,  if  not  to  give  an  occasional  assent.  The  door 
of  the  soul  may  be  opened  at  any  rate  a  little  to  the  fairy 
rappings  of  these  ethereal  spirit  folk,  who  are  trying  so 
hard  to  make  connections  with  us,  their  relatives,  who  are 
doomed  to  spend  our  entire  lives  crawling  about  in  the 
dark,  dirty  bottom  of  this  dense  sea  of  air,  which  our  celes- 
tial visitants  try  from  sheer  love  to  penetrate  in  order  to 
reach  us  and  allure  our  thoughts  upward  to  a  higher  and 
brighter  world,  though  it  be  but  for  an  hour. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    MEDIUM   IN    GERM 

In  presenting  the  following  cases  of  incipient  medium- 
ship  which  have  come  under  my  notice,  both  of  which  were 
cases  sincere  and  free  from  fraud,  one  of  the  important 
things  I  have  in  mind  is  to  show  how  alien  to  the  mind  of 
the  medium  herself  is  the  true  cause  of  her  states.  The 
history  of  "  this  girl,"  as  seen  by  herself,  is  given  in  the 
first  part  of  the  paper,  her  own  words  being  often  used, 
while  the  underlying  motive  did  not  appear  until  the  last 
sitting.  In  the  case  of  the  older  woman,  she  does  not  seem 
to  have  connected  her  feelings  of  possession,  etc.,  with  her 
condition  of  health,  and  in  proportion  as  she  did  this  she 
was  able  to  resist  the  tendencies. 

Imagine  an  impressionable,  dreamy  girl,  the  constant 
companion  of  a  mother  who  was  born  with  a  veil  and  who, 
true  to  that  heritage  and  to  the  teachings  of  her  own  seeress 
mother,  saw  visions  and  talked  with  spirits.  Far  more  than 
in  most  families  the  mother  and  daughter  were  dependent 
upon  each  other  for  companionship,  for  the  mother  was 
somewhat  alienated  from  her  husband,  and  even  meditated 
a  divorce,  and  the  family  lived  in  a  small  town,  and  were 
not  church  attendants,  thus  missing  the  chief  source  of 
social  life  in  a  small  place.  The  girl  and  her  mother  read 
much,  though  perhaps  superficially,  on  popular  psychology, 
science,  astronomy,  and  geology,  etc.,  depending  largely  on 
Chamber's  "  Encyclopedia  "  for  their  information.  They 
worked  out  theories  of  their  own  on  the  evolution  of  the 
earth,  on  life  and  society,  on  the  nature  of  God  and  immor- 
tality, and  on  the  moral  abuses  of  to-day. 

274 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

As  adolescence  approached,  the  daughter  inevitably 
nourished  her  soul  on  dreams  of  greatness,  and  the  mother, 
given  to  visions  of  another  world,  was  lynx-eyed  to  inter- 
pret every  oscillation  of  mood  as  due  to  spirits  pressing  in 
upon  her  daughter's  soul. 

But  not  until,  at  seventeen,  the  girl  first  went  to  a  me- 
dium did  the  dreams  become  visions.  Not  only  did  the 
medium  give  the  girl  messages,  but  she  said  that  the  spirits 
destined  this  girl  for  a  great  work  and  would  soon  take 
control  of  her  themselves.  Then  soon,  in  the  quiet  of  her 
own  home,  the  spirits  did  appear,  at  first  only  as  visions, 
silent  though  distinct,  but  in  the  course  of  a  month,  audible 
as  well  as  visible,  able  to  tell  her  directly  what  they  wished, 
and  to  prove  themselves  by  showing  her  clairvoyantly  her 
father 's  boyhood  home  and  by  prescribing  for  a  sick  friend 
of  his. 

For  years  the  girl  did  not  display  her  power  outside  of 
the  family  circle  and  never  earned  money  by  it,  though 
they  were  poor,  but  simply  cultivated  her  spirit  acquaint- 
ances, until  she  had  a  circle  of  them  who  played  the  same 
part  in  her  life  that  companions  of  her  own  age  do  in  the 
life  of  any  normal  girl.  They  helped  her  trim  her  dresses 
and  hats,  advised  her  about  family  troubles,  health,  etc. 
Then,  too,  there  were  greater  spirits:  Lucifer,  familiarly 
called  Zezy,  and  Oleof,  master  of  the  elements.  They  were 
the  leaders  of  a  band  of  spirits  who  have  never  been  in- 
carnated, and  to  whom  God  has  given  as  a  great  and  special 
trust  the  conversion  of  the  world  for  Christ's  second  coming. 

By  slow  degrees,  over  a  period  of  four  years,  the  convic- 
tion was  borne  in  upon  this  girl  that  she  was  the  divinely 
appointed  medium  through  whom  these  spirits  were  to  work, 
and  just  at  the  critical  moment  when  she  had  shaped  this 
definitely  to  herself  she  saw  in  a  paper  the  announcement 
of  a  course  of  lectures  to  be  given  at  a  near-by  university 
by  a  certain  well-known  psychologist  on  Spiritism  and 
allied  phenomena.    This,  the  spirits  told  her,  was  the  long- 

275 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

awaited  signal.  She  must  go  to  this  Professor,  demand  an 
audience  in  their  name  and  through  her  they  would  speak, 
convincing  the  Professor  of  their  power  and  wisdom.  He 
then  would  convene  all  the  well-known  scientists  of  the 
land  whom,  in  turn,  the  spirits  would  convert,  and  plans 
could  then  be  worked  out  in  detail  for  the  reformation  of 
the  world. 

She  went  accordingly,  and  found  the  Professor  very 
willing  to  allow  her  to  give  some  sittings  to  him  and  two 
others  interested  in  the  subject.  Picture  her  now  at  her 
first  real  seance.  Her  trance  was  still  in  that  incipient 
stage  in  which  she  was  conscious  of  all  that  was  said  and 
done,  and  she  must  have  been  intensely  alive  to  the  fact 
that  she  was  the  centre  of  interest,  the  object  of  curiosity 
and  wonder,  if  not  of  reverence,  to  these  students  so  much 
older  and  more  learned  than  she  herself. 

The  little  circle  sat  about  her  quiet  and  sympathetic, 
jotting  down  her  lisping  nonsense  about  the  origin  of  ether 
and  atoms,  relations  of  the  hierarchies  of  angels  to  God,  the 
proper  laws  for  marriage  and  divorce,  etc.,  until  in  a  burst 
of  confidence  her  heart  was  laid  bare.  Even  in  this  gen- 
eration is  the  Christ  to  come  again.  To-day,  in  this  coun- 
try, nay,  in  this  very  section  of  the  country,  is  living  the 
girl  M'ho  shall  be  blessed  above  even  the  Holy  Mother  her- 
self in  giving  birth  to  the  reincarnated  Christ,  who  this  time 
will  come  in  glory  and  triumph.  Who  could  this  greater 
Mary  be?  Or  rather,  is  it  not  she  who  long  before  the 
annunciation  has  dreamed  of  the  glorified  world  which 
Christ  will  usher  in?  Not  to  this  girl  does  it  belong  to 
claim  such  honour  boldly,  but  ah,  the  hope  is  clinging  warm 
about  her  heart. 

During  the  first  few  sessions  the  sitters  were  perhaps  a 
little  dazed  by  these  utterly  naive  and  inmost  revelations, 
not  of  the  spirit  world,  but  of  a  simple  and  unabashed  soul. 
But  very  gently  at  first,  and  then  more  insistently,  Zezy 
brought  to  the  front  his  message  to  the  scientific  world,  and 

276 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

hinted  that  we  ought  to  call  together  Edison  and  James  and 
others.  Then  came  a  sitting  in  which  Zezy  was  kindly  but 
plainly  told  that  we  were  still  in  some  doubt  as  to  his  real 
existence,  and  that  to  prove  it  he  must  state  to  us  facts 
which  could  not  possibly  have  been  known  to  this  girl. 

This  was  a  new  idea  to  the  control  and  made  him 
thoughtful  and  silent  for  a  time,  but  he  soon  professed  him- 
self quite  willing  for  such  tests,  and  asked  what  he  should 
do.  Wg  suggested  that  he  bring  back  the  Founder  of  the 
University  and  have  him  tell  us  things  known  only  between 
him  and  the  Professor,  and  this  Zezy  agreed  to  try. 

Between  this  time  and  the  next  session,  as  this  girl  tells 
the  story,  the  spirits  brought  the  Founder  to  her,  and  he 
practised  upon  her  so  that  he  might  come  back  easily  at  the 
next  sitting.  They  also  sought  for  the  Professor's  mother 
and  a  fictitious  niece,  whom  he  invented  for  the  occasion. 
When  the  Founder  first  came  he  could  only  give  her  visions 
of  his  life  among  the  Indians.  (He  probably  never  saw  a 
live  Indian.)  The  second  time  he  entered  her  body  but 
could  not  talk,  but  the  third  time  he  could  talk. 

At  the  sitting  the  Founder  appeared  with  all  Zezy's 
characteristic  tones  and  phrases,  but  was  very  sensitive  to 
light  and  to  draughts.  He  was  in  a  bad  humour,  and  did 
not  manifest  any  pleasure  at  meeting  the  Professor  again. 
He  was  called  on  for  specific  incidents,  and  was  asked  many 
questions,  to  most  of  which  he  said  he  did  not  know  the 
answer,  but  to  a  few  he  offered  tentative  answers,  as, 
"  Wasn't  it  thus?  "  "  Seems  to  me  I  remember  it  thus." 
Out  of  about  eighty  points  noted,  four  were  correct,  and 
three  of  these  were  known  to  the  general  public.  The 
fourth  was  a  personal  incident  of  the  Professor's  getting  a 
fall  while  in  a  bath,  but  the  circumstances  and  time  were 
entirely  wrong. 

In  the  next  session  various  detailed  incidents  were  told 
the  Professor  about  his  childhood,  none  of  which  he  could 
recall.    His  fictitious  niece  also  appeared,  and  her  appear- 

277 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ance  and  characteristics  were  described  in  detail.  The 
Founder  then  appeared  again  with  more  incidents,  such  as 
the  Professor  losing  his  cigar  and  getting  on  his  hands  and 
knees  to  hunt  for  it.  Also,  a  dispute  that  the  two  had  over 
the  location  of  the  boilers  in  one  of  the  university  buildings, 
which  actually  never  occurred. 

Evidently,  these  incidents  had  been  in  the  process  of 
formation  in  the  medium's  mind,  partly  consciously  and 
partly  unconsciously,  and  these  were  given  rather  confi- 
dently and  were  not  easily  altered  by  suggestion.  She 
pictures  things  to  herself  vividly  and  readily,  and  has  come 
to  believe  in  such  ideas  as  divinatory  and  veridical,  as  any 
naive  mind  does,  making  the  test  of  truth  only  the  clearness 
and  distinctness  of  the  idea. 

But  as  the  session  advanced,  and  the  medium  got  these 
preformed  ideas  out  of  her  mind,  she  became  susceptible  to 
suggestion,  and  we  built  up,  e.  g.,  a  detailed  description  of 
the  Founder's  picture  gallery,  his  health,  etc.  Here  every 
expression  of  ours,  inflection,  assent,  or  dissent,  was  reacted 
to  in  the  most  delicate  manner,  very  largely,  we  believe, 
without  the  girl  herself  understanding  the  process,  and 
believing  that  the  visions  which  came  according  to  our  sug- 
gestions originated  in  the  spirit  world. 

The  next  session  was  at  first  taken  up  with  similar  de- 
tailed incidents  in  the  life  of  the  fictitious  niece,  conversa- 
tions she  had  had  with  her  aunt  and  uncle,  her  girl  friends, 
etc.  Then  came  a  pause,  and  the  niece  said  hesitatingly 
that  she  had  a  message  to  be  given  to  a  certain  Mr.  B. ; 
that  his  mother  would  like  to  have  him  come  to  a  sitting 
to  get  the  message,  but  that  probably  he  would  not  be  will- 
ing to  come  if  he  knew  that  this  girl  was  the  medium,  unless 
perhaps  the  Professor  would  urge  him  to  come.  The  fic- 
titious niece,  who  still  purported  to  be  controlling  this  girl, 
then  went  into  a  long  explanation  of  why  Mr.  B.  would 
not  see  this  girl,  and  for  nearly  an  hour  recounted  all  sorts 
of  gossip  about  the  medium's  family,  displaying  a  knowl- 

278 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

edge  of  the  girl's  most  intimate  thoughts  and  feelings, 
which  showed  that  the  control  served  only  as  a  rather  flimsy 
veil  to  hide  the  medium's  shame  and  confusion  at  making 
public  these  disgraceful  things.  Even  so  the  pretence  was 
not  complete,  for  when  the  control  began  "  I  suppose  you 
know  all  about  it ....  "  her  face  flushed  and  remained  so 
until  she  grew  absorbed  in  the  intricacies  of  her  story. 

Now,  the  nib  of  the  girl's  motive  for  telling  us  this  fam- 
ily scandal  lay  in  the  fact  that  some  years  before,  at  about 
the  time  when  her  visions  first  began,  she  had  become  in- 
fatuated with  a  man  twelve  years  older  than  herself.  Even 
from  the  standpoint  of  her  own  great  desire  she  could  not 
say  that  he  had  ever  given  her  the  slightest  encouragement 
or  intimation  of  any  affection,  but  she  had  been  told  by 
some  acquaintances,  doubtless  in  jest,  that  he  was  in  love 
with  her,  and  her  own  desires  made  her  give  credence  to 
the  statement.  Why  then  did  he  not  come  to  see  her  and 
tell  her  so?  There  could  be  only  one  reason,  and  that  was 
that  he  had  heard  the  scandal  about  the  family.  Acting  on 
this  theory  she  and  her  mother  seem  to  have  written  notes 
to  the  man  and  to  Mr.  B.,  trying  to  get  Mr.  B.  to  clear  her 
mother  to  the  man.  We  can  only  guess  how  much  the  two 
did,  but  some  two  years  before  our  sittings  the  girl  seems 
to  have  realised  how  foolish  the  efforts  were  and  to  have 
decided  to  let  the  whole  matter  drop. 

But  Zezy  (standing  doubtless  for  her  instinctive,  sub- 
conscious desires)  continued  to  maintain  that  the  man 
really  loved  her,  and  that  if  only  Mr.  B.  would  just  once 
meet  her  mother  civilly  the  man  would  then  call  on  this  girl, 
and  the  way  would  be  open  for  anything. 

This,  then,  was  the  underlying  motive  for  these  sittings. 
Mr.  B.  would  be  among  the  noted  men  to  sit  at  her  feet; 
he  would  necessarily  receive  messages  from  his  spirit 
mother  telling  him  to  treat  this  girl  and  her  mother  well, 
and  so  the  spirits  would  smooth  the  path  for  true  love  and 
ring  the  marriage  bells. 

279 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

We  had  a  long  and  detailed  conversation  with  the  con- 
trols about  this  matter,  we  urging  that  it  was  of  prime  im- 
portance for  this  girl  to  take  no  more  steps,  but  winning 
only  a  reluctant  assent  to  our  worldly  wisdom.  Finally, 
Sarah  was  dismissed,  and  at  once  Zezy  arrived  in  an 
excited  and  boisterous  frame  of  mind,  but  was  finally 
calmed  down  and  dismissed  until  some  indefinite  future 
sitting. 

This  was  the  last  session,  but  in  the  year  that  has 
elapsed  since  then  the  girl  has  called  at  the  Professor's 
upon  various  pretexts.  She  began  to  hold  sittings  with  a 
group  of  Psychical  Researchers,  but  soon  became  disgusted 
with  them  because  they  would  not  talk  to  Zezy  but  simply 
listened,  and  she  gave  up  the  sittings.  Whether  she  has 
taken  any  further  steps  in  relation  to  the  man  we  do  not 
know.  Again,  upon  making  inquiries  about  her  family  we 
found  that  no  such  scandal  was  generally  known  as  she 
related,  and  the  question  has  therefore  been  raised  in  our 
minds  as  to  whether  she  is  not  suffering  from  a  genuine  de- 
lusion of  persecution.  This  opinion  is  strengthened  by  Dr. 
Freud's  opinion,  who  had  a  session  with  her,  and  who  con- 
siders her  slightly  paranoiac. 

The  motivation  of  her  mediumship  was  made  very  clear 
by  our  last  seance.  Her  unrequited  love  is  approximately 
coincident  with  the  beginning  of  her  mediumship,  and  the 
latter  developed  as  an  agency  by  which  she  might  become 
attractive  to  this  man.  Her  conviction  that  she  had  a  pe- 
culiar mission  had  as  its  unconfessed  and  subconscious  mo- 
tive her  desire  by  her  own  attractions  to  counterbalance  the 
scandal  about  her  family.  Her  expectation  of  becoming 
the  mother  of  the  second  Christ  is  a  pathetic  expression  of 
the  usually  unconfessed  and  largely  subconscious  dreams  of 
most  young  girls. 

The  case  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  how  shock  may 
split  the  personality,  and  how  in  the  subconscious  self,  quite 
unknown  to  the  person  the  repressed  desire  may  be  at  work 

280 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

creating  a  fantastic  thought-scheme  through  which  it  may 
obtain  gratification.  In  this  case,  the  thwarted  sexual  de- 
sires found  at  least  partial  expression  in  the  swagger  and 
roughness  of  Zezy,  and  in  the  relief  from  the  usual  inhibi- 
tions in  conversation.  Her  talk  about  marriage,  as  well  as 
the  tendency  of  some  of  her  imagery  to  picture  scenes  not 
usually  alluded  to  in  society,  showed  plainly  that  in  the 
depths  of  her  mind  sex  was  a  very  potent  and  constantly 
present  factor. 

In  another  case  which  has  come  under  my  observation 
the  personality  has  not  been  disrupted,  but  has  been  shaken 
by  repeated  shocks  of  the  most  trying  sort,  so  as  to  give 
the  person  the  sense  of  an  alien  personality,  though  she 
does  not  believe  in  it.  Unfortunately,  she  has  few  notes 
made  at  the  time,  and  the  record  is  therefore  incom- 
plete. 

When  she  was  about  fourteen  years  old  her  father  lost 
his  fortune,  and  she  was  obliged  to  take  upon  herself  most 
of  the  responsibility  for  running  the  household.  This  was 
very  hard  both  physically  and  emotionally.  Previous  to 
this,  between  seven  and  nine  years,  she  had  had  an  illness 
which  had  left  some  tendencies  to  paralysis  of  the  bowel, 
and  she  has  been  troubled  with  this  more  or  less  ever  since. 
She  seems  to  have  been  in  poor  health  from  fourteen  on, 
but  there  was  no  alteration  of  personality  that  is  remem- 
bered until  she  was  twenty.  Then,  while  sweeping  a  room 
one  morning,  she  suddenly  entered  into  a  state  of  ecstasy. 
She  felt  light  and  free,  all  imperfections  disappeared  be- 
fore a  mysterious  Beauty,  and  poetry  sang  itself  in  her 
mind,  a  song  expressing  gratitude  to  the  source  of  this 
Infinite  Beauty. 

Then  for  years  she  remembers  nothing  more  of  this  sort. 
She  married  and  had  a  son,  but  when  he  was  fourteen 
months  old  he  died.  At  the  same  time  came  financial  and 
other  troubles,  until  she  was  exhausted.  One  evening  she 
went  to  bed  with  a  headache,  but  began  to  weep,  until  the 
21  281 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

lines  of  an  old  hymn  came  into  her  mind,  "  Come,  Holy 
Spirit,  Heavenly  dove,  with  all  thy  quickening  powers." 
Then  came  a  great  peace,  with  a  vision  of  a  dead  aunt  and 
cousin.  Intense  ecstasy  followed,  so  intense  that  her  body 
could  not  endure  it  and  she  screamed,  bringing  her  husband 
and  his  sister  to  her.  They  found  her  rigid,  with  fixed 
eyes.  They  shook  and  rubbed  her,  and  when  she  became 
conscious  she  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  I  have  seen  Jesus!  "  and 
went  to  sleep.  In  the  morning  she  had  no  recollection 
of  this. 

Again  there  was  a  lapse,  this  time  of  ten  years,  when 
diphtheria  became  epidemic  in  the  family  and  their  four- 
year-old  daughter  died.  On  their  way  to  the  cemetery  the 
mother  tried  to  compose  herself,  when  suddenly  she  seemed 
to  see  the  child  floating  radiantly  in  the  air,  and  a  great 
peace  and  joy  came  upon  her.  The  vision  remained  until 
they  entered  the  cemetery,  the  mother  reasoning  about  it 
to  herself,  experimenting  in  order  to  make  it  disappear,  etc. 
The  feeling  of  strength  and  peace  remained  for  weeks, 
while  the  husband  and  another  child  were  ill  with  diph- 
theria, and  the  mother  was  put  to  the  severest  tests  of  en- 
durance. 

Not  long  after  this  a  man  interested  in  hypnotism  and 
Spiritism  began  to  call  upon  her  husband  and  to  discuss 
these  matters  in  her  presence.  One  evening  they  sat  about 
a  table,  and  her  right  arm  began  to  twitch.  When  given 
pencil  and  paper  she  repeatedly  wrote  the  word  **  Chan- 
ning."    Nothing  more  happened  that  night. 

A  week  later  they  tried  again  without  results,  but  her 
eyelids  began  to  feel  heavy,  and  she  supposes  that  she  was 
hypnotised  without  her  knowledge.  Her  head  drew  back, 
her  neck  became  rigid,  and  she  began  to  impersonate  their 
dead  little  daughter.  Then  she  talked  like  her  husband's 
dead  mother.  A  stage  of  great  happiness  followed,  but 
suddenly  a  vision  of  a  skull  frightened  her,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  an  intense  hate  of  the  hypnotist  and  the  feeling 

282 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

that  she  was  taken  possession  of  by  some  frenzied  creature 
to  wreak  vengeance  upon  him.  She  told  her  husband  that 
the  man  must  go  home,  and  after  a  walk  in  the  yard  and 
a  night's  rest  she  felt  like  herself,  but  was  so  frightened 
by  the  experience  that  she  would  not  try  it  again. 

About  eight  years  later  she  saw  a  piece  of  statuary 
which  again  put  her  into  a  state  of  ecstasy,  with  the  realisa- 
tion of  Infinite  Beauty.  And  two  years  later  she  began  to 
fall  into  the  trance  state  while  asleep,  rousing  her  husband 
by  impersonations  of  dead  persons.  She  would  act  and 
gesture  like  the  person  until  her  husband  guessed  the  right 
one,  and  would  then  begin  to  talk. 

She  has  done  this  occasionally  for  friends,  and  has 
doubtless  had  other  experiences  which  she  has  forgotten, 
but  for  some  time  she  has  let  it  drop,  because  she  is  not  sure 
of  its  effect  upon  her  health  or  efficiency,  nor  is  she  con- 
vinced that  it  is  anything  more  than  an  abnormal  manifes- 
tation, although  the  character  of  the  visions  naturally  raises 
in  her  mind  the  question  of  spirit  communication. 

Here,  as  in  other  cases,  we  have  the  same  diathesis. 
This  lady  is  highly  sensitive  and  impressionable,  with  vivid 
imagery  and  feelings  of  premonition,  etc.  She  is  subject 
to  fluctuations  of  feeling,  without  causes  satisfactory  to 
herself,  and  these  seem  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  sense  of 
an  alien  personality.  But  in  her  case  the  normal  self  has 
never  been  destroyed,  in  spite  of  the  great  strains,  because, 
I  think,  her  own  thoughtfulness  and  her  husband's  have 
prevented  the  encouragement  of  the  spiritistic  manifes- 
tations. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  are  we  to  say  regarding  the 
visions  and  the  realisation  of  Infinite  Beauty  ?  These,  it  is 
testified,  give  not  only  peace  but  strength.  They  are  un- 
doubtedly of  the  same  character  as  the  ecstasy  of  the  mys- 
tics and  the  Neo-Platonists.  We  do  not  know  as  much  as 
we  should  of  the  nervous  accompaniments  of  this  state,  nor 
even  of  the  details  of  the  way  to  attain  it,  but  one  thmg 

283 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

does  seem  to  be  characteristic  of  the  attainment  of  the  state 
by  the  great  mystics  of  all  cults  and  religions.  Preceding 
the  Vision  or  Rapture,  there  is  always  a  stage  of  prepara- 
tion, of  intense  longing  and  concentration,  and  this  finally 
breaks  through  the  limitations  of  the  old  personality,  and 
gives  the  sense  of  enlargement,  freedom,  peace,  etc.  The 
process  is  not,  therefore,  one  of  dissociation  of  the  self,  and 
consequent  narrowing  of  the  normal  self,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  mediumistic  trance,  but  is  a  genuine  broadening  of  the 
self,  a  calling  out  of  previously  unused  powers,  and  the 
sense  of  added  strength  is  the  natural  accompaniment  of 
it.  Probably  this  means,  on  the  neural  side,  that  the  intense 
activity  of  some  brain  centres  cannot  be  confined  to  the 
ordinary  channels  and  so  breaks  new  ones  for  itself,  thus 
connecting  centres  previously  severed  and  giving  added 
associations  and  motor  connections.  It  thus  has  many  com- 
mon elements  with  the  learning  process,  and  I  think  that 
any  one  will  testify,  who  has  had  both  experiences,  that  the 
feelings  of  satisfaction  and  enlargement  upon  the  successful 
solution  of  some  difficult  and  interesting  problem  are  sim- 
ilar to  the  feelings  after  ecstasy,  though  they  are  much 
less  in  degree. 

The  form  of  the  ecstasy,  whether  a  Vision  or  Sense  of 
Presence  or  Rapture,  probably  depends  upon  personal  idio- 
syncrasies. 

If  this  analysis  is  correct  such  a  process  is  not  abnormal, 
but  valuable,  and  it  is  one  which  our  churches  should  es- 
pecially facilitate,  since  God  in  the  manifestation  of  Christ 
is  assumed  to  be  the  supreme  object  of  contemplation  and 
longing. 

The  writings  and  lives  of  the  great  mystics  bear  elo- 
quent testimony  to  the  value  of  this  state  in  increasing 
their  efficiency,  and  while  the  tendency  to  it  seems  to  differ 
greatly  with  the  individual,  the  psychologist  can  hardly 
question  that  in  modern  life  this  element  is  not  sufficiently 
represented,  that  in  our  haste  to  render  social  service  many 

284 


THE    MEDIUM    IN    GERM 

of  us  are  working  without  a  clear  Vision,  and  are  really 
splitting  our  lives  and  selves  instead  of  developing  a  larger 
social  self.  So  we  find  nervous,  worried  philanthropists  and 
social  workers — to  say  nothing  of  other  classes  of  people — 
where  we  should  find  directness  and  effectiveness. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE    CASE    OF    MRS.   VERRALL 

In  discussing  the  development  of  mediumship  an  ac- 
count of  ]\Irs.  Verrall's  automatic  writing  should  not  be 
omitted,  since  it  is  one  of  the  very  rare  cases  in  which  the 
medium  has  made  a  study  of  herself,  and  it  is  therefore 
unusually  interesting  and  suggestive.  Her  account  (Pro- 
ceedmgs  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  xx, 
432  pp.)  covers  nearly  four  years  of  writing,  from  March 
5,  1901,  to  December  31,  1904,  and  includes  306  pieces 
under  uniform  conditions  and  sixteen  others. 

Mrs.  Verrall  has  been  a  member  of  the  Society  from  its 
early  days,  and  is  a  lecturer  on  Latin  and  Greek  at  Newn- 
ham  College.  She  has  always  been  one  of  the  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Society,  and  has  tried  various  experiments. 
With  crystal  gazing  she  could  never  attain  any  success, 
but  she  was  more  successful  with  the  planchette  if  some 
one  else  helped,  although  the  writing  so  obtained  never 
contained  "  anything  of  interest."  When  she  tried  the 
planchette  alone  she  obtained  only  meaningless  movements 
or  else  letters  of  her  own  name — "  ervrr."  In  January. 
1901,  she  made  systematic  attempts  with  the  planchette, 
but  was  unsuccessful,  and  finally  tried  to  obtain  writing 
by  holding  a  pencil  while  at  the  same  time  she  read  a  book. 
This,  too,  was  a  failure,  the  writing  giving  only  words  from 
the  book  or  characters  from  a  brass  tablet  in  front  of  her. 
She  dropped  the  matter  until  March,  and  then  tried  again, 
this  time  allowing  her  mind  to  follow  passively  all  sugges- 
tions.    In  this  way  she  obtained  both  Greek  and  English 

286 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

words,  not  entirely  without  sense  but  not  very  coherent. 
On  the  second  trial  she  suddenly  felt  a  strong  impulse  to 
hold  the  pencil  between  the  thumb  and  first  finger  instead 
of  in  her  usual  fashion,  and  then  the  hand  wrote  about 
eighty  words  in  Latin,  which  made  no  general  sense  though 
intelligible  in  places.  The  writing  improved  gradually, 
and  at  length  she  began  to  get  messages  purporting  to 
come  from  the  dead. 

Usually  she  writes  twice  a  week,  but  not  invariably. 

After  December  14,  1902,  Mrs.  Verrall  sent  the  writing 
to  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  as  it  was  produced,  keeping  copies  for 
herself,  and  he  put  them  away  for  later  reference  and  veri- 
fication, if  any  of  the  messages  in  them  should  later  on 
assume  importance. 

Mrs.  Verrall 's  account  of  her  sensations  while  writing 
is  extremely  suggestive.  She  does  not  see  the  paper,  and 
although  she  may  perceive  some  words  singly  she  does  not 
get  their  connection  with  others,  and  so  gets  no  meaning 
out  of  the  writing  as  it  goes  on.  Often  she  does  not  even 
know  what  language  she  has  been  using,  so  evanescent  is 
the  memory  of  the  isolated  words.  At  various  times  she 
has  tried,  immediately  after  finishing,  to  reproduce  even 
the  sense  of  the  writing,  but  has  been  unable  to  do  so,  save 
in  one  case.  She  usually  writes  when  alone,  in  a  dim  light, 
and  free  from  interruptions,  but  sometimes  she  has  done  it 
in  a  train.  She  finds  herself  very  sleepy  during  the  writ- 
ing, and  several  times  she  has  lost  consciousness  of  her  sur- 
roundings. These  tendencies  seem  to  increase  as  the  writ- 
ing develops. 

Again,  although  she  does  not  remember  the  writing,  she 
seems  to  be  conscious  of  it  at  least  in  some  eases,  one 
message,  for  instance,  making  her  weep  without  know- 
ing why. 

We  will  omit  in  the  main  her  careful  discussion  of  the 
form  and  style  of  the  writing,  merely  saying  that  Eng- 
lish, Latin,  and  Greek  are  all  used  freely,  but  modern  lan- 

287 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

guages  very  little,  although  Mrs.  Verrall  is  even  better  ac- 
quainted with  French  than  with  ancient  languages,  and 
constantly  dreams  in  it.  We  will  pass  rather  to  the  content 
of  the  script,  which  has  the  most  interest  for  us. 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  writing,  especially  at 
the  beginning,  is  that  it  contains  many  aphorisms,  or  sen- 
tences in  the  form  of  aphorisms  or  epigrams,  which  are 
nearly  or  quite  meaningless,  like  "  accomplishment  is  bet- 
ter than  success  " — the  sort  of  thing  one  makes  up  in 
dreams. 

Familiar  quotations  also  appear  very  frequently,  the 
stringing  together  of  words  of  similar  sounds,  even  when 
they  make  no  sense,  and  puns. 

There  is  also  a  tendency  at  times  to  make  verses,  a  tend- 
ency which  first  appeared  in  ]\Irs.  Verrall  some  years  before 
when,  on  recovering  from  an  illness,  she  sometimes  found 
herself  half  unconsciously  making  up  verse — a  thing  she 
never  does  when  fully  normal. 

The  script  consists  for  the  most  part  of  unsigned  re- 
marks, not  addressed  to  any  particular  person,  but  often 
written  in  the  first  person  and  addressed  to  a  *'  you." 
Sometimes  it  seems  to  be  a  dialogue  between  two  persons, 
and  sometimes  it  is  addressed  by  a  ' '  me  ' '  to  some  one,  and 
signed  with  a  name. 

On  April  3,  1901,  about  a  month  after  she  began  sys- 
tematic experimenting,  there  is  the  first  conversation,  the 
script  containing  two  stj^les  of  script  for  the  two  speakers, 
but  the  content  being  uninteresting. 

In  all  there  were  148  signatures  or  attempts  at  them, 
12  being  incomplete,  44  unidentified,  9  unintelligible,  and 
83  identified.  Of  these  83,  1  purported  to  be  from  a  liv- 
ing person,  48  were  names  of  dead  persons,  and  34  were 
signs  or  symbols  for  dead  persons. 

Much  of  what  is  said  in  the  writing  consists  of  comments 
on  the  writing,  difficulties  in  doing  it,  desirable  tests,  etc., 
and  in  general  exhortations,  advice,  etc.    We  will  not  con- 

288 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

sider  these  in  any  detail  but  will  pass  at  once  to  the  mes- 
sages purporting  to  come  from  the  dead  which  seem  to 
have  evidential  value. 

Unverifiable  statements  are,  of  course,  numerous,  and 
over  these  we  will  not  linger,  curious  though  some  of 
them  are. 

With  regard  to  verifiable  statements,  Mrs.  Verrall  ad- 
mits very  frankly  that  in  some  instances  the  statement  may 
have  come  from  her  own  subliminal  self,  she  having  for- 
gotten that  she  had  ever  known  it.  This  source  of  error, 
evidently,  cannot  always  be  eliminated,  although  there  will 
be  cases  where  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case  she  could 
not  have  known  it.  This  connection  or  lack  of  connection 
of  the  script  with  the  conscious  memory  is  very  interesting. 
For  instance,  the  script  refers  frequently  to  a  paper  written 
by  Mr.  Verrall,  and  well  known  to  her  twenty-five  years 
before,  but  almost  forgotten,  but  through  all  the  writing 
she  has  found  only  five  references  to  recent  events.  Ref- 
erences to  things  which  she  had  read  six,  ten,  or  twenty 
years  before  and  had  forgotten  are  more  common.  In 
eight  cases  she  finds  a  connection  between  the  script  and  a 
certain  very  vivid  sort  of  dream  that  she  occasionally  has, 
the  writing  personality  connecting  itself  with  the  dream 
content. 

The  character  of  the-  script  lends  itself  easily  to  sta- 
tistical methods,  and  Mrs.  Verrall  has  summarised  it  as 
follows : 

There  were  28  references  to  miscellaneous  persons,  of 
which  17  claim  to  produce  verifiable  matter,  but  only  5 
or  perhaps  6  are  counted  by  IMrs.  Verrall  as  correct;  186 
references  are  to  persons  known  to  be  interested  in  the 
script.  Of  these,  61  do  not  claim  to  be  evidential  and  125 
do  so  claim.  Of  the  125,  40  fail  to  be  evidential,  through 
vagueness,  etc.,  24  are  definitely  false,  and  41  are  classed  as 
correct.  These  41  successes  are  statements  of  facts  un- 
known to  Mrs.  Verrall,  to  the  best  of  her  belief,  and  fall 

289 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

therefore  into  the  same  class  as  do,  in  Mrs,  Piper's  sittings, 
the  statements  unknown  to  the  sitter,  but  later  verified. 
We  will,  therefore,  take  them  up  in  detail.  Mrs.  Verrall 
herself  omits  three  or  perhaps  four  correct  statements 
about  different  friends,  but  beginning  p.  180,  Proceedings 
of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  20,  she  discusses 
these  evidential  statements,  which  we  summarise. 

1.  That  a  book  with  a  monogram,  part  in  pencil,  hard 
to  read,  had  been  mislaid  but  found,  and  that  Miss  Har- 
rison knows.  Miss  Harrison  had  lost  and  found  a  note- 
book, but  it  had  no  monogram. 

2.  Miss  Harrison  would  know  the  date,  February  6th, 
long  ago  now.  This  was  the  birthday  of  a  sister  who  had 
died  thirty  years  before. 

3.  A  reference,  without  name,  to  Mr.  ]\Iarsh  as  connect- 
ing the  old  world  and  the  new.  Later  he  unexpectedly 
went  to  the  United  States. 

4.  At  Mrs.  Verrall 's  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Constable 
her  automatic  hand  drew  a  chain,  and  made  reference  to 
a  carnelian  heart,  and  a  few  days  later  it  referred  to  an 
old-fashioned  portrait  of  a  lady  with  three  curls  on  either 
side  her  face,  bare  neck,  gray  dress,  to  whom  the  heart 
belonged.  Mr.  Constable  did  have  a  portrait  of  his  mother 
corresponding  somewhat  to  this,  and  she  had  a  chain  with 
a  locket  on  it,  but  no  heart.    The  dress  colour  is  not  known. 

5.  It  was  stated  that  Mrs.  Dew  Smith,  "  Alice,"  had 
found  a  little  house  near  a  wood  with  a  sunny  garden. 
She  had  actually  been  wanting  such  a  house  but  had  not 
found  it. 

6.  Mrs.  Smith  was  assured  that  the  pen  would  be  found, 
and  it  turned  out  that  she  had  lost  a  package  of  pens  which 
was  found  several  months  later. 

7.  She  was  assured  that  her  plan  was  a  good  one,  and 
that  she  should  not  be  deterred  by  criticism.  It  appeared 
that  Mrs.  Smith  had  wanted  to  build  a  cottage,  but  had 
been  dissuaded  strongly  by  her  friends. 

290 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

8.  Mr.  Verrall  tried  some  experiments  in  thought-trans- 
ference, without  Mrs.  Verrall's  knowledge,  soon  after  she 
began  automatic  writing  (p.  156).  He  wrote  down  the 
three  Greek  words,  /xovottwAov  Is  aw,  "  to  the  one  horse 
dawn,"  referring  to  a  college  incident  unknown  to  Mrs. 
Verrall,  the  idea  being  to  see  if  she  could  be  made  to  re- 
produce the  phrase.  The  words  were  put  into  an  envelope 
and  put  into  a  drawer  in  his  desk,  and  he  said  nothing  to 
any  one  about  the  experiment.  About  two  months  late^  the 
hand  wrote,  "  Five  stars  in  the  east  that  is  not  right.  .  .  . 
Show  it  to  your  husband."  She  showed  this  to  him  on 
August  1st,  and  he  remarked  that  it  interested  him,  but 
said  nothing  to  point  to  any  experiment.  She  knew  that 
he  was  observing  some  of  her  writing  with  especial  inter- 
est, but  had  no  idea  just  why.  On  July  31st  came  a  Latin 
phrase,  in  which  the  Greek  word  fiov6xLT<i)vo<:  was  interpo- 
lated, which  Mr.  Verrall  thought  might  be  an  attempt  at 
ImovottXov,  and  ' '  alba, ' '  which  is  also  sometimes  translated 
dawn. 

August  13th  there  were  references  to  a  crowing  cock, 
and  a  motto  about  dawn,  and  between  August  13th  and 
September  20th  fifteen  more  attempts  were  made,  some- 
times at  meaning,  sometimes  at  words,  sometimes  by  allu- 
sions to  associated  ideas,  but  no  reference  to  horse  until 
September  18th,  when  Mr.  Verrall,  sitting  in  a  separate 
room  from  her  while  she  was  writing,  fixed  his  thought 
upon  horse,  and  she  wrote  a  phrase  descriptive  of  goodly 
horses.  But  she  did  not  get  the  exact  phrase  at  any  time, 
and  the  attempts  ceased  abruptly  when  she  discovered  that 
he  had  been  experimenting,  though  even  then  she  did  not 
know  just  what  the  experiment  was. 

9.  Another  instance  of  apparent  telepathy  with  Mr.  Ver- 
rall occurred  when  the  hand  wrote,  "  The  chapel  is  too 
light,.  . .  .Cantuar  is  sedile  ubi  nunc  gentium? .  ..."  On 
questioning  Mr.  Verrall  about  this  he  said  that  he  thought 
that  the  original  design  of  the  chapel  in  question  had  been 

291 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

destroyed  by  adding  an  aisle  later,  and  the  Latin  reminded 
him  of  an  incident  where  the  inscription  was  misread. 

10.  Again,  after  a  reference  to  Mr.  Verrall,  the  hand 
Avrote,  "  to  the  dark  tower  came  who?  ask  him  who  and 
where?  "  This  evidently  referred  to  "  Childe  Roland," 
and  probably  to  BroAvning's  poem,  since  there  a  context  is 
given.  Mr,  Verrall,  it  turned  out,  had  been  reading  Brown- 
ing and  "  Childe  Roland  "  that  day. 

There  are  very  few  incidents  in  these  ten  cases  which 
the  subconscious  mind  may  not  have  known  or  inferred 
from  all  sorts  of  subtle  suggestions  which  Mrs.  Verrall  or 
any  one  else  would  not  notice.  This  might  especially  apply 
to  the  experiments  of  her  husband  on  the  phrase  "  one 
horse  dawn,"  It  might  happen  that  in  these  months  of 
intercourse,  any  references  to  dawn  in  their  talk  would 
call  up  in  him  a  subtle  shade  of  expression  or  inflection 
which  would  leave  its  subconscious  impress  upon  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall and  reappear  in  the  automatic  writing.  This  also  might 
be  true  of  9  and  10.  In  the  case  of  10,  though  Mr.  Ver- 
rall had  not  said  he  intended  to  read  Browning,  and  per- 
haps even  if  he  did  not  definitely  plan  to  do  so,  there 
might  have  been  a  certain  mood,  certain  subtle  turns  of 
thought  which  to  the  subconscious  mind  of  his  wife  would 
be  associated  with  Bro\\Tiing  reading,  etc. 

11.  August  31,  1903,  the  hand  wrote  that  Hugh  would 
not  go  abroad  next  month,  that  there  would  be  a  hurried 
journey  south  and  then  a  long  break,  and  that  she  would 
know  before  Christmas.  "  Hugh  "  had  expected  to  go  to 
Italy  in  September,  but  actually  went  in  October.  The 
Verralls  had  contemplated  a  hurried  journey,  but  actually 
took  a  leisurely  one. 

The  hand,  therefore,  was  half  right  only,  and  we  cannot 
tell  what  indications  there  may  have  been  at  the  time  of 
the  writing  that  "  Hugh  "  would  be  delayed  in  his  trip. 

12.  The  hand  told  Mrs.  Verrall  to  note  the  name  of  the 
first  acquaintance  she  met  and  tell  her  husband.     About 

292 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

11.20  A.M.  she  met  an  acquaintance  named  White,  in  Lon- 
don, and  on  telling  her  husband  he  said  that  he  had  seen 
the  same  man  in  Cambridge  at  four,  an  impossible  thing 
if  Mrs.  Verrall  really  saw  him.  So  Mrs.  Verrall  raises 
telepathy  as  an  explanation  of  this,  but  again  why  may 
we  not  suppose  merely  coincidence? 

13.  The  script  wrote:  "  Sidgwick  wants  to  say  some- 
thing about  a  message — a  missing  book.  It  ought  to  be 
found.  It  had  dates  in  it — a  little  book  kept  by  accident — 
there  was  something  else  in  it.  It  fastens  with  a  strap — 
most  of  the  leaves  are  torn  out,  but  March  and  May  are 
there.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  must  look."  Mrs.  Sidgwick  later 
found  a  book  like  this  containing,  on  the  few  remaining 
leaves,  dated  references  to  an  incident  to  which  Professor 
Sidgwick  had  destroyed  all  other  references  before  his 
death,  leaving  these  only  by  accident. 

14.  VarioiTS  attempts  were  made  referring  to  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick, to  describe  a  certain  room  where  there  was  a  book 
lying  under  a  blue  sofa,  low  down,  wrapped  up,  near  a 
sweet-scented  jar,  and  with  an  armchair  near,  with  books  all 
about  and  a  portrait  in  a  frame.  After  considerable  diffi- 
culty this  was  recognised  as  referring  to  Mrs.  Sidgwick 's 
room  at  Newnham  College.  Under  the  blue  drapery  of  the 
window-seat  she  kept  a  box  full  of  important  papers,  and 
on  going  through  this  box  she  found  among  them  a  pri- 
vately printed  pamphlet,  wrapped  up  and  sealed,  which 
she  had  taken  charge  of  after  Professor  Sidgwick 's  death, 
but  had  forgotten  all  about.  Inquiry  had  previously  been 
made  of  her,  in  April  or  May,  about  this,  and  she  had  said 
that  she  did  not  have  it. 

Why  can  we  not  suppose  that  Mrs.  Verrall,  who  knew 
the  Sidgwicks  very  well,  had  at  some  time  heard  inci- 
dental references  to  these  things?  This  is  not  outside  the 
possibilities,  and  perhaps  not  outside  the  probabilities. 

15.  July  23d  came  a  message  that  some  one  was  coming 
over  the  sea  to  Lodge,  and  that  something  of  importance 

293 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

had  happened  while  Mrs.  Verrall  was  away,  which  had  to 
do  with  Hodgson,  Sir  Oliver  said  later  that  something 
of  importance  had  happened  to  him,  and  that  some  one  had 
come  from  over  the  sea  about  it,  arriving  July  28th,  five 
days  after  the  writing.  But  the  only  connection  with  Hodg- 
son was  that  later  he  went  back  on  the  same  ship  with  this 
person. 

Hodgson 's  presence  in  England,  known  to  Mrs.  Verrall, 
doubtless  was  the  starting  point  in  Mrs.  Verrall 's  subcon- 
scious mind  for  this  writing,  and  it  needs  no  other  ex- 
planation. 

16.  But  again,  July  30th,  the  script  seemed  to  refer  to 
this  incident  again,  saying,  "  You  have  it  not  quite  right.  . . 
The  name  is  wrong.  Thaumas  is  more  like  it  but  I  can't 
get  it, ' '  and  the  next  day  Sir  Oliver  received  a  letter  from 
a  man  named  Thomas  asking  for  a  certain  position  in  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and  giving  Mr.  Verrall  as 
a  reference.  At  the  time  of  the  writing  Mrs.  Verrall  knew 
nothing  of  this,  she  is  confident. 

But  again,  how  are  we  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  sub- 
conscious indications?  The  same  question  applies  to  the 
two  following  cases : 

17.  A  message  came  to  tell  Mr.  Piddington  that  some- 
thing had  happened  to  Rosie  Thompson  at  school,  but  not 
to  be  alarmed.  It  turned  out  that  Rosie  was  in  bed  at 
school  with  cold  and  neuralgia. 

18.  A  writer,  supposed  to  be  Dr.  Sidgwick,  referred 
to  a  play  connected  with  children,  and  dated  long  before, 
which  was  among  his  MSS.  About  the  same  time,  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  came  across  such  a  play,  but  with  other  names 
than  those  given  in  the  script,  and  of  a  different  appear- 
ance and  size. 

In  both  these  cases  we  need  only  suppose  some  infer- 
ence and  the  revival  of  submerged  memories. 

19.  This  message  came:  "  Give  it  to  her —  yarn  a  tan- 
gled skein —  Veridical  is  the  case.  —  see  what  you  have 

294 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

said."     The  next  day  Mrs.  Verrall  was  called  upon  to  in- 
vestigate an  apparently  veridical  dream. 

But  Mrs.  VerraU's  interest  in  veridical  dreams,  halluci- 
nations, etc.,  may  have  been  revived  by  some  occurrence, 
and  in  any  case  is  so  permanent  that  a  reference  to  it  in 
the  writing  does  not  indicate  anything  unusual. 

20.  One  day,  about  12.40  p.m.,  the  hand  wrote  a  vivid 
description  of  a  fire  then  going  on,  in  which  pictures  were 
destroyed.  In  the  next  day's  paper  Mrs.  Verrall  found 
an  account  of  a  fire  at  an  artist's  club,  where  over  sixty 
pictures  were  burned,  which  occurred  about  1.20  a.m. 

The  coincidence  about  the  pictures  is  curious,  but  again 
one  would  like  to  know  whether  anything  had  occurred  to 
make  Mrs.  Verrall  think  of  such  a  possibility? 

21.  On  her  way  home  one  day  the  hand  wrote,  "  The 
letter  is  at  your  house  that  explains,  good  guidance,  and 
the  waters  of  Omar. ' '  The  first  mail  the  next  morning  con- 
tained a  letter,  from  a  friend,  of  good  wishes  for  an  ex- 
pected journey  and  a  copy  of  "  Omar  Khayyam." 

But  we  are  not  told  what  "  explanation  "  or  "  good 
guidance  "  was  contained  in  this  letter,  nor  whether  there 
was  not  some  reason  to  expect  a  letter  from  this  friend, 
as  well  as  the  ' '  Omar. ' ' 

22.  Mrs.  Verrall  notes  some  curious  agreements  in 
phrases  between  the  automatic  writing  and  some  Neo-Pla- 
tonic  writers,  which  we  will  not  consider  in  detail  here.  She 
was  also  instructed  not  to  try  for  writing  when  the  wind 
was  in  the  East,  but  in  the  West,  and  later  found  that  this 
was  one  of  the  regular  instructions  given  to  Neo-Platonie 
neophytes  who  wished  to  attain  ecstasy. 

All  these,  however,  while  curious,  may  be  referable  to 
knowledge  forgotten,  which  is  always  very  large  in  amount 
with  any  constant  reader,  such  as  Mrs.  Verrall  seems  to  be. 
The  same  remark  holds  with  regard  to  '  *  La  Saisiaz, ' '  which 
Mrs.  Verrall  believes  she  had  not  read,  but  which  she  may 
have  read  and  forgotten  about.    I  should  be  very  unwilling 

295 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

to  make  any  assertion  of  that  sort  about  the  shorter  poems 
of  any  modern  poet,  because  one  reads  so  many  things  in 
odd  moments  which  very  soon  sink  into  the  subconscious 
memory.     The  incident  is  this : 

23.  In  1904  the  hand  wrote  remarks  about  Professor 
Sidgwick,  a  letter  of  his  about  the  Wanderer  on  the  Way, 
the  Passionate  Pilgrim,  Hope's  vision,  etc.  Nearly  two 
years  later,  upon  reading  a  letter  of  Professor  Sidgwick 's, 
in  which  he  states  his  sympathy  with  Browning's  views  on 
immortality  as  expressed  in  "La  Saisiaz,"  Mrs.  Verrall 
read  the  poem  and  found  the  general  resemblance  between 
it  and  the  above  phrases. 

The  script  also  claimed  definitely  to  know  the  contents 
of  the  sealed  letter  which  Myers  left  with  Lodge  to  be 
opened  after  his  death,  and  gave  the  message,  but  gave  it 
entirely  wrong. 

24.  Various  partly  successful  attempts  were  made  to 
describe  a  ring  belonging  to  Archbishop  Benson,  which 
Mrs.  Verrall  was  sure  she  had  never  seen.  But  here  again 
is  the  possibility  that  she  was  mistaken. 

25.  At  various  times  the  script  attempted  a  word  to  be 
sent  as  a  test  to  Dr.  Hodgson,  finally  giving  the  words 
"  Ariadnes  stella  eoronaria,"  and  making  an  allusion  to 
another  constellation,  Berenice's  hair.  Dr.  Hodgson  in 
reply  said  that  he  had  thought  about  syringas  in  connec- 
tion with  her  script,  and  that  syringas  had  a  special  sig- 
nificance for  him.  Now,  the  Latin  name  for  syringa  is 
Philadelplius  coronarius,  and  the  combined  reference  to 
Ariadne's  crown  and  Berenice's  hair  is  supposed  by  Mrs. 
Verrall  to  be  intended  to  recall  Philadelphus  or  brotherly 
love. 

This  is  rather  far-fetched,  however. 

26.  In  various  places  references  were  made  to  Plato's 
* '  Symposium, ' '  which  Mrs.  Verrall  believes  she  had  not  then 
read,  and  in  one  she  was  told  to  look  in  Myers's  book  for 
an  explanation  of  Plato's  doctrine.     She  took  this  to  refer 

296 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

to  ' '  Ilmnan  Personality, ' '  and  when  the  book  came  out  she 
found  in  it  a  discussion  of  Plato's  views  on  love.  Mrs. 
Verrall  is  confident  that  she  never  Imew  that  Mr.  Myers 
intended  to  connect  love  with  telepathy,  but  her  memory 
may  be  at  fault,  or  she  may  have  inferred  it  from  her 
general  knowledge  of  his  views. 

The  prophecies  that  came  true  are  as  follows : 

27.  The  script  wrote,  "  MAIMENT  IS  WITHIN  on 
the  right  hand  side  as  you  look — the  window  is  behind  so 
it  is  not  very  plain  to  read.    But  he  knows  it. ' ' 

Previously  the  script  had  produced  Madment 

Maidment 
Evan 

awnsley  November 
1857. 
Three  weeks  later,  while  visiting  some  friends  in  Winches- 
ter, the  host  at  breakfast  one  morning  read  sections  of  a 
letter  from  a  friend  named  Rawnsley,  and  on  going  into  a 
shop,  two  days  later,  Mrs.  Verrall  noticed  a  bag  on  the 
wall  with  the  name  Maidment  on  it. 

28.  The  Greek  letter  sigma  often  appeared  in  the  script 
as  if  with  some  special  significance,  and  Mrs.  Verrall  began 
to  investigate  the  use  of  symbolical  letters  among  the  Neo- 
Platonists.  The  writing  one  day  referred  to  didaskalia 
and  automata  as  containing  doctrines,  and  later  she  found 
that  there  was  a  book,  "  The  Didascalia,"  which  discussed 
the  use  of  symbolic  letters. 

We  wish  that  we  knew  whether  Mrs.  Verrall  had  ever 
visited  Winchester  before,  for,  if  she  had,  27  might  be  sim- 
ply a  breaking  out  of  the  subconscious.  In  all  probability 
this  is  the  case  with  28.  It  may  easily  be  that  she  had  in 
some  earlier  reading  seen  references  to  *'  The  Didascalia  " 
and  had  forgotten  them. 

29.  After  a  reference  to  one  of  her  husband's  family 
the  hand  prophesied,  "  Great  changes  all  will  see  in  the 
next  year,  more  than  one  break  in  the  close  family. ' '    With- 

22  297 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

in  the  year  an  aunt  died  and   a  nephew  went  to  New 
Zealand. 

30.  Later  the  hand  said  that  some  one  would  see  all  the 
constellations,  and  that  a  previous  prophecy  would  be  ful- 
filled on  September  19th.  The  only  unfulfilled  prophecy 
referred  to  the  nephew,  and  on  September  22d  this  nephew 
sailed  and  doubtless  saw  all  the  constellations  on  his  trip. 

But  29  and  30  refer  to  the  immediate  family,  and  we  do 
not  know  what  indications  there  may  have  been  of  the 
desire  of  the  nephew  to  make  a  change,  or  of  the  aunt's 
health. 

31.  About  11  P.M.,  on  May  11th,  came  a  message  in  which 
it  was  said  in  Latin  that  "  chalk  sticking  to  the  feet  got 
over  the  difficulty,"  ending  in  a  drawing  of  a  grinning 
bird.  The  next  day  the  newspaper  described  some  experi- 
ments made  the  previous  night,  between  twelve  and  three, 
to  discover  the  cause  of  certain  sounds.  Chalk  was  scat- 
tered on  the  floor,  and  after  various  happenings  the 
watchers  found  in  the  chalk  a  bird's  footprints. 

32.  This  message  came  on  December  11th :  ' '  Marmontel. 
he  was  reading  on  a  sofa  or  in  bed —  there  was  only  a  can- 
dle's  light.  .  .  .  The  book  was  lent  not  his  own — he  talked 
about  it. ' '  Later,  references  were  made  to  Passy  or  Fleury, 
and  it  was  said  that  the  book  was  in  two  volumes  in  old- 
fashioned  binding  and  print. 

Later,  it  appeared  that  a  friend,  Mr.  Marsh,  had  car- 
ried a  volume  of  Marmontel  from  the  London  Library  to 
Paris,  read  it  in  the  way  described,  on  February  20th  and 
21st,  and  talked  about  it  with  his  friends.  One  of  these 
evenings  the  chapter  read  contained  references  to  Fleury 
and  Passy.  The  edition  was  a  three-volume  one,  and  not 
very  modem  in  binding. 

33.  Reference  was  made  to  a  cross  on  five  stone  steps 
with  a  fresh  green  wreath  about  it,  located  on  a  hillside  in 
the  open,  made  of  white  stone,  with  no  inscription.  The 
steps  were  old,  the  cross  new.    Later,  Mrs.  Verrall  found 

298 


THE    CASE    OF    MRS.    VERRALL 

that  a  friend  had  erected  such  a  cross  on  old  steps,  but 
the  names  given  by  the  script  were  all  wrong,  and  it  was 
not  near  the  sea.  The  script  said  that  the  wreath  had  an 
inscription  on  it  "  In  honour  A.  J.  C,"  and  the  initials 
of  the  person  were  really  A.  H.  C,  but  it  is  not  known 
whether  such  an  inscription  was  tied  on  the  wreath.  This 
account  was  written  by  the  hand  three  menths  before  the 
dedication  of  the  cross,  and  about  nine  before  the  wreath 
was  put  on  the  cross. 

These  last  three  prophecies  are  to  me  the  most  curious 
of  any  in  all  the  records  I  have  studied.  The  references 
are  so  definite,  and  at  the  same  time  are  to  conditions  and 
persons  so  relatively  unknown,  that  it  is  hard  to  see  how 
they  could  have  been  based  upon  subconscious  suggestions. 
For  the  present  I  must  simply  leave  them  unexplained. 

In  general  we  may  say  about  Mrs.  Verrall's  test  mes- 
sages that  they  are  in  most  cases  open  to  the  criticisms 
made  by  Vaschide  in  his  discussion  on  Les  Hallucinations 
Telepathiques.  Her  messages  were  usually  to  or  about  in- 
timate friends,  and  their  subject-matter  referred  to  sub- 
jects which  she  may  have  known  something  about,  but  have 
forgotten.  The  fact  that  the  persons  concerned  do  not  re- 
member the  events  is  no  proof — as  Psychical  Researchers 
should  be  the  first  to  admit — because  we  do  forget  the 
larger  part  of  our  experiences  so  far  as  our  voluntary  mem- 
ory is  concerned.  In  short,  it  seems  as  if  we  had  here,  if 
only  we  could  work  it  out  in  detail,  an  extremely  interesting 
and  suggestive  case  of  subconscious  memory  and  inference. 

How  well  worth  while  it  would  be  if,  after  any  given 
instance  of  automatic  writing,  Mrs.  Verrall  could  be  given 
association  tests  and  subjected  to  a  thorough  trial  of  the 
psycho-analytic  method  in  order  to  bring  up  all  the  sub- 
merged trains  of  thought  connected  with  the  writing. 

The  characteristics  of  the  script  read  like  a  summary  of 
Jung  and  Riklin's  Diagnostische  Assoziationsstudien  {J. 
fur  Psy.  u.  Neur.,  Bd.  3,  1904),  in  which  they  detail  the 

299 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

marks  of  reactions  that  accompany  suppressed  feeling 
states:  quotations,  puns,  sound  reactions,  meaningless  re- 
actions— these  all  indicate  underlying  complexes  of  feeling 
which  would  certainly  be  brought  to  the  surface  under 
proper  conditions,  and  which  would  explain  the  entire  con- 
tent of  the  script  without  any  reference  to  spirits. 

Again,  the  fact  that  most  of  the  references  which  can 
be  traced  to  events  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  own  life  are  to  events 
years  before,  and  not  to  recent  ones,  hints  again  at  sup- 
pressed feeling  complexes  connected  with  some  shock,  for 
Jung  and  Freud  found  exactly  this  to  be  the  case  with 
their  patients. 

Before  leaving  this  most  interesting  case,  let  us  note 
once  more  that,  as  always,  the  non-evidential  and  meaning- 
less portions  are  very  much  more  numerous  than  the  so- 
called  tests.  Out  of  322  pieces  of  writing,  each  containing 
many  items,  and  running  over  nearly  four  years,  only  41 
references  or  items  are  classed  by  Mrs.  Verrall  herself  as 
correct.  Is  it  not  probable  that  these  seem  mysterious  only 
because  we  do  not  know  enough  about  them  ? 


CHAPTER    XIX 
THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

No  theory  which  has  to  explain  a  personality  can  be 
simple  if  it  is  to  be  true.  Nor  can  we  expect  in  the  pres- 
ent unsettled  condition  of  both  psychological  and  psychi- 
atrical theory  to  offer  any  explanation  which  will  be  sat- 
isfactory to  all  specialists.  We  are  ako  hampered  by  the 
fact  that  the  phenomena  Avhich  might  normally  appear  in 
the  Piper  case  are  to  some  degree  veiled  by  the  spiritistic 
theory  which  has  so  largely  shaped  the  trance  personalities, 
and  by  the  fact  that  we  cannot  experiment  with  the  case 
nor  urge  the  control  of  the  waking  self  to  confession  as 
Freud  is  able  to  do  in  his  capacity  of  physician.  Neverthe- 
less, I  believe  that  from  our  own  sittings  and  the  published 
records  a  good  prima  facie  case  can  be  made  out  to  show 
that  Mrs.  Piper's  controls  and  those  of  other  honest  medi- 
ums are  but  cases  of  secondary  personality,  and  nothing 
more,  a  splitting  off  from  the  central  self  of  a  part  which 
may  take  on  almost  any  shape.^ 

1.  First  let  us  review  the  development  of  this  trance 
state,  as  far  as  we  can  get  at  it.  In  the  cases  of  secondary 
personalities  discussed  by  the  Freud  school,  Janet,  and 
Prince,  and  Sidis,  although  these  writers  differ  considerably 
in  various  respects,  all  agree  that  the  starting  point  of  the 
split  in  the  self  appears  to  consist  in  some  sort  of  shock, 
affecting  a  naturally  somewhat  unstable  nervous  system. 
In  the  case  of  Mrs.  Piper,  we  know  that  at  the  age  of  six- 

1  See  also  Bruce,  "  Riddle  of  Personality,"  pp.  212  et  seq.  Bruce, 
however,  also  invokes  telepathy. 

301 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

teen  she  had  the  accident  with  the  ice-sled,  at  which  time 
she  saw  a  flood  of  light  as  she  became  unconscious,  and  that 
not  long  after  an  ovarian  tumor  developed.  We  do  not 
know  whether  there  was  some  earlier  shock,  between  seven 
and  nine  years,  as  Freud  believes  is  always  the  case,  nor 
what  her  nervous  condition  as  a  child  was.  From  the  age 
of  sixteen,  however,  her  health  could  certainly  not  be  de- 
scribed as  vigorous,  and  the  diseased  condition  of  the  re- 
productive organs  seems  to  be  closely  connected  with  her 
mediumistic  activities,  as  shown  before.  Let  us  recapitulate 
briefly.  Shortly  after  the  birth  of  her  first  child  she  first 
went  into  trance  at  the  house  of  a  blind  medium  whom  she 
had  gone  to  consult  about  her  tumor. 

Between  this  time  and  the  spring  of  1893  the  tumor  was 
an  ever-present  factor,  doubtless  keeping  IMrs.  Piper  in  a 
state  of  nervous  tension,  if  not  of  actual  pain.  During  these 
years  she  was  being  tried  out  in  this  country  and  England, 
Phinuit  being  the  chief  control,  and  these  sittings  being  the 
most  evidential  of  any  in  her  career.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  Pelham  set,  in  the  fall  of  1892,  when  Pelham 
was  proving  his  identity — a  piece  of  work  considered  by 
the  Researchers  as  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  of  any — 
and  when  Mrs.  Piper's  health  was  steadily  growing  worse, 
so  that  in  the  spring  of  1893  she  had  an  operation  at  which 
the  tumor,  together  with  the  diseased  Fallopian  tubes  and 
ovaries,  was  removed. 

After  this  her  health  improved  somewhat,  but  again 
became  worse  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1895  and  1896, 
and  in  the  early  part  of  1896  she  had  a  second  operation  for 
hernia.  This  is  coincident  with  the  appearance  and  devel- 
opment of  the  Imperator  group  of  controls,  but  there  was 
no  such  outburst  of  activity  as  in  the  previous  case.  After 
the  second  operation  Mrs.  Piper's  health  improved  steadily, 
and  the  trance  messages  deteriorated,  in  my  opinion.  The 
Hyslop  sittings  have  practically  no  **  test  messages,"  and 
we,  as  well  as  many  Researchers  themselves,  differ  in  toto 

302 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

from  Hyslop  as  to  their  evidential  value.  Until  the  appear- 
ance of  Hodgson  in  1905,  as  a  new  control,  and  the  cross- 
correspondence  tests,  at  which  Myers  is  the  officiating  spirit, 
which  run  through  1906,  there  were  no  great  manifesta- 
tions, and  Podmore  says  specifically  that  the  messages  de- 
teriorated steadily  from  1900  on. 

But,  in  1905,  Mrs.  Piper  was  forty -six  years  old,  and  the 
changes  of  the  climacteric — which  persist  to  some  degree 
even  where  the  reproductive  organs  have  been  in  part  re- 
moved— had  probably  begun  to  make  their  appearance,  and 
so  were  coincident  with  the  increased  activity  shown  by  the 
Hodgson  and  Myers  controls. 

Surely  this  coincidence  between  the  heightened  trance- 
power  and  the  heightened  nervous  tension  and  physical  con- 
dition is  not  likely  to  be  purely  accidental.  In  origin,  there- 
fore, the  trance  states  of  Mrs.  Piper  do  not  seem  to  be 
different  from  many  cases  of  secondary  personality  cited 
by  writers  on  that  subject. 

2.  We  have,  however,  what  seems  to  be  a  profound  dif- 
ference between  the  two  in  the  fact  that  INIrs.  Piper  brings 
on  the  trance  voluntarily,  and  says  that  she  has  never  fallen 
into  it  spontaneously,  either  while  awake  or  asleep.  This 
raises  the  question  of  the  genuineness  of  the  trance,  and  of 
the  relation  of  the  trance  states  to  hysterical  attacks.  Janet 
lays  down  as  the  three  marks  of  hystericals — suggestibility, 
absent-mindedness,  and  alternations.  Here  we  are  espe- 
cially concerned  with  the  first.  More  than  all  other  people 
a  hysterical  is  suggestible,  and  presents  in  his  disease  the 
symptoms  which  he  is  expected  to  present.  Charcot's  pa- 
tients present  the  classical  illustration  of  this.  Charcot 
had  a  very  definite  theory  of  hysteria  and  its  symptoms, 
which  his  patients  soon  learned,  so  that  in  his  hospital  the 
patients  invariably  showed  these  symptoms,  while  the  pa- 
tients of  physicians  of  different  beliefs  showed  variations 
from  Charcot's  types.  It  took  a  long  time  to  demonstrate 
that  Charcot's  three  stages  were  purely  the  result  of  his 

303 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

suggestions,  but  this  is  now  generally  accepted.  Similarly, 
before  Charcot,  and  in  cases  where  the  disease  is  little 
known  by  the  patient's  friends,  the  patient  gradually  de- 
veloped a  set  of  symptoms  according  to  her  milieu.  One  of 
the  most  common  of  these  formerly  was  the  fit  or  convul- 
sion, in  which  the  patient  sometimes  frothed,  seemed  to 
grow  insensible,  anaesthetic  in  spots,  etc.  Nowadays,  som- 
nambulism or  a  trancelike  sleep  is  common.  In  these  cases, 
after  the  attack  the  patient  has  no  recollection  of  it,  but 
the  patient  may  work  herself  up  to  it  by  recalling  some 
aggravating  or  irritating  circumstances,  by  recalling  the 
original  shock  which  brought  on  the  hysteria,  or  perhaps  by 
more  or  less  unconsciously  reproducing  voluntarily  the 
physical  tensions  which  accompanied  the  original  shock. 

Mrs.  Piper  does  not  say  what  she  thinks  of  on  entering 
the  trance.  She  says  that  she  tries  not  to  think  of  anything. 
Neither  does  she  admit  that  she  voluntarily  alters  her 
breathing,  but  the  first  and  most  marked  change  that  occurs 
is  the  much  slower  and  apparently  fuller  respiration.  At 
present  there  are  few  convulsive  movements,  only  a  little 
twitching  of  the  face  and  fingers,  but  in  the  beginning — 
and  this  is  the  significant  thing — there  were  strong  con- 
vulsions, with  groans,  sobs,  etc.  Is  it  not  possible  that  in 
these  convulsions  she  lived  through  again  the  accident  with 
the  ice-sled  or  some  earlier  unknown  experience?  These 
convulsions,  as  I  understand,  lasted  until  the  Imperator 
group  took  possession,  at  about  which  time  also  the  writ- 
ing became  the  habitual  mode  of  expression  instead  of 
speaking.  For  something  over  ten  years  then — the  years 
when  Mrs.  Piper's  health  was  poorest  and  the  messages 
were  most  valuable — the  preliminary  convulsions  persisted. 

The  Imperator  group,  however,  systematically  discour- 
aged these  manifestations.  Here  we  revert  again  to  the 
suggestibility  of  the  controls.  First  let  us  note  that  during 
the  years  from  the  fall  of  1895  to  the  fall  of  1896,  when  the 
Imperator  group  was  slowly  developing,  Mrs.  Piper  gave 

304 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

very  few  sittings  on  account  of  her  extremely  poor  health, 
and  to  Mrs.  Piper  and  those  interested  in  her  future  the 
prospects  must  have  looked  very  dubious.  The  waste  of 
strength  and  energy  in  the  convulsions  was  a  source  of 
anxiety,  and  made  Mrs.  Piper  unwilling  to  go  into  the 
trance,  and  though  the  published  records  give  few  indica- 
tions the  controls  must  have  been  urged  at  various  times 
not  to  injure  the  medium's  body  or  use  up  "  the  light  "  in 
taking  possession.  Mrs.  Piper's  increasing  anxiety  about 
her  health  and  future  finally  found  adequate  and  dramatic 
expression  in  the  demand  made  by  the  Imperator  group  in 
January  of  1897,  that  Hodgson  should  give  them  the  man- 
agement of  her  and  that  they  would  take  care  of  her  ' '  bat- 
tered machine  ' '  and  patch  it  up  so  that  it  would  la.st  as  long 
as  possible.  From  this  time  on  the  conditions  necessary  for 
health,  such  as  frequency  and  length  of  sittings,  are  set 
by  the  controls.  As  we  should  expect  if  the  control  is  really 
a  secondary  personality  and  so  very  suggestible,  these  con- 
ditions are  not  always  for  the  good  of  Mrs.  Piper,  but  often 
reflect  the  desires  of  the  sitter,  and  perhaps  allow  him  to 
inflict  even  quite  severe  pain  without  remonstrance  from 
the  control.  But  when  the  control  is  left  to  itself,  to  its 
own  narrow  range  of  consciousness,  it  is  hypera?sthetic  to 
various  bodily  conditions  which  would  be  unrecognised  in 
the  normal  state,  because  the  sensations  would  be  sub- 
merged in  the  numerous  other  sensations  streaming  in  upon 
the  waking  self.  In  such  cases,  therefore,  the  control  might 
feel  the  developing  symptoms  of  a  disease,  headache,  etc., 
and  might  be  able  to  give  a  warning  and  save  the  medium 
from  the  attack.  In  this  case  it  would  seem  to  the  medium 
in  the  normal  state  and  to  the  sitter  to  display  supernormal 
wisdom,  while  when  distracted  by  suggestions  from  the  sit- 
ter it  might  be  indifferent  or  callous  to  the  medium's 
interests. 

The  gradual  reduction  of  the  convulsions  and  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  present  symptoms  on  entering  and  coming 

305 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

out  of  the  trance  miglit,  if  we  but  had  complete  records, 
be  shown  to  be  the  outcome  of  a  continual  give  and  take  be- 
tween sitter  and  medium,  just  as  the  symptoms  appearing 
in  any  given  hysterical  case  are  built  up  in  this  way. 
As  confirmatory  of  this  we  have  Mrs.  Piper 's  own  statement 
that  the  trance  has  never  come  on  in  sleep  or  when  she  was 
alone,  just  as  any  hysterical  attack  seems  to  need  the  stimu- 
lus of  some  one's  presence  to  induce  it. 

3.  Again,  a  rich  chapter  for  the  student  of  suggestion 
lies  in  the  creation  of  the  characteristics  of  the  various  con- 
trols. Hyslop  believes  that  one  of  the  strongest  arguments 
against  the  theory  of  secondary  personalities  is  the  fact 
that  in  Mrs.  Piper's  case  the  personages  are  so  varied, 
whereas  secondary  personalities  are  usually  few  in  number. 

This  difference,  however,  seems  to  me  to  reflect  only  the 
difference  in  the  milieu  of  Mrs.  Piper  and  of  the  ordinary 
and  admittedly  abnormal  case  of  secondary  personality. 
When  a  girl  first  experiences  such  a  change  of  personality 
her  family  is  usually  alarmed  and  calls  in  the  doctor.  They 
do  not  like  the  change,  and  they  repress  the  new  self  as  far 
as  they  can.  The  secondary  self  is  discouraged  from  the 
beginning.  i\Irs.  Piper,  however,  first  entered  the  trance  at 
a  medium's,  in  the  presence  of  Spiritualists,  one  of  them 
her  father-in-law,  with  whom  she  was  living  at  the  time. 
They  greeted  her  as  a  new  medium,  accepted  the  control  as 
a  genuine  personality,  and  favoured  the  onset  of  the  trance 
in  every  possible  way.  Naturally,  the  spirits  would  wax 
and  grow  fat  under  such  conditions.  As  I  have  noted  be- 
fore, even  when  Hodgson  was  abusing  Phinuit  by  exposing 
his  subterfuges  and  lies,  he  seems  never  to  have  questioned 
his  actual  existence,  and  so  in  other  cases.  While  particular 
traits  or  statements  may  have  been  severely  snubbed  and 
pruned,  there  was  always  plenty  of  encouragement  to  de- 
velop in  other  directions,  which  were  indicated  at  least  neg- 
atively, and  often  positively.  In  the  published  records  the 
controls  are  repeatedly  encouraged  and  praised  when  they 

306 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

are  right,  are  sympathetically  told  when  they  have  made  a 
mistake,  and  are  aided  in  framing  explanations  of  why 
they  made  the  mistake.  But  I  do  not  find  any  instances 
where  attempts  were  made  to  see  how  far  they  could  be  led 
by  suggestions  to  make  up  wholly  incorrect  accounts,  as 
Dr.  Hall  and  I  led  them.  That  is,  no  attempt  seems  to  have 
been  made  to  get  any  check  on  the  control's  statements,  so 
as  to  find  out  how  far  his  statements  may  have  come  from 
voluntary  and  involuntary  suggestions  from  the  sitter, 
and  how  far  they  must  have  come  from  his  own  individ- 
uality. We  have  already  shown  that  the  laboured  attempts 
to  get  "  evidential  messages  "  have  had  practically  only 
negative  results.  In  nearly  every  case  the  message  is  ex- 
plicable easily  as  a  guess  or  inference,  or  suggestion,  and 
the  incompleteness  of  the  records  and  the  impossibility  of 
eliminating  all  opportunity  of  suggestion  make  it  unjusti- 
fiable to  conclude  to  supernormal  knowledge  on  the  part 
of  the  control  from  so  few  and  so  unimportant  cases. 

But,  again,  much  is  made  of  the  dramatic  impersonation 
of  friends,  of  the  individuality  and  lifelikeness  of  the  con- 
trols, etc.  It  is  my  conviction  that  this  lifelikeness  exists 
only  in  the  minds  of  the  sitters.  It  is  hard  for  me  to  un- 
derstand how  Hyslop,  for  instance,  can  consider  the  imper- 
sonation of  his  father  dramatic  and  lifelike.  If  any  of  my 
deceased  friends,  even  the  most  neutral  and  drab  in  char- 
acter, should  come  back  in  such  a  pitiful,  spectral,  foolish 
shape  as  Ilyslop,  Sr.,  I  should  assuredly  call  him  the  shadow 
of  a  shade,  the  ghost  of  a  thought,  the  echo  of  an  auditory 
image.  In  fact,  the  fictitious  spirits  that  Dr.  Hall  and  I 
created  for  Hodgson's  benefit  had  more  vividness  and  co- 
herence to  them  than  have  many  of  those  dim  visions  that 
flit  for  an  instant  across  the  pages  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  then  to  disappear  forever. 

Take  the  case  of  Hodgson  for  instance.  Even  Professor 
James,  who  is  trying  hard  to  believe  in  Hodgson,  cannot 
summon  any  heartiness  in  speaking  of  this  apparition  of 

307 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

him  that  now  sits  at  Mrs.  Piper 's  seances  as  Banquo  's  ghost 
did  at  the  feast.  The  Hodgson  control  has  many  character- 
istics of  the  living  Hodgson,  we  are  told,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  does  not  seem  to  make  his  old  friends  really  feel 
that  he  is  present,  except  once  in  a  while. 

The  appearance  of  any  given  personality  may  be  deter- 
mined by  various  factors.  Frequently  the  sitter  asks  for 
some  person  by  name.  In  other  cases  the  very  presence  of 
the  sitter  indicates  that  communications  are  desired,  and 
that  it  is  "  up  to  the  control  ' '  to  find  the  right  spirit.  In 
such  cases  he  throws  out  numerous  feelers,  as  he  did  with 
us,  sometimes  as  many  as  six  of  these  disconnected  proper 
names  being  interjected  into  the  sitting  for  us  to  take  up 
or  reject.  When  this  is  continued  through  three  or  more 
sittings  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  there  were  not  some 
friend  or  relative  associated  with  some  name.  In  still  other 
cases  the  control  gradually  approximates  the  name  by  a 
series  of  guesses,  in  which  he  is  doubtless  involuntarily 
aided  by  the  sitter.  In  this  latter  case,  it  is  easy  to  under- 
estimate the  involuntary  indications  possible  and  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  control  to  them.  This  should  be  more  con- 
sidered. 

The  various  experiments  in  thought-transference  car- 
ried on  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  itself  con- 
stantly brought  to  light  new  sources  of  involuntary  com- 
munication as  well  as  unsuspected  modes  of  deception,  so 
that  it  appears  pretty  well  made  out  that  all  of  us,  even  in 
the  normal  state,  are  aided  in  reaching  a  conclusion  or  judg- 
ment not  only  by  the  perceptions  which  we  can  attend  to, 
but  by  many  unnoticed  sensations,  which  nevertheless  im- 
press us  and  seem  to  summate  their  activities  unknown  to 
our  upper  consciousness.  One  of  the  most  suggestive  exam- 
ples of  this  sort  is  seen  in  the  notable  Hans  Pferd,  who  was 
honestly  supposed  by  his  own  master  to  be  able  to  read, 
number,  etc.  His  master  exhibited  this  horse,  and  the  mat- 
ter created  so  much  interest  that  finally  well-known  psy- 

308 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

chologists,  headed  by  Stumpf,  undertook  the  study  of  him, 
under  the  conviction  that  it  was  all  a  clever  trick  of  his 
master's  to  get  money.  They  finally  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  master,  who  of  course  knew  the  correct  answers  to 
the  questions  asked  Hans,  betrayed  the  correct  answer  by 
slight,  involuntary  swaying  movements,  to  which  the  horse 
was  susceptible,  and  which  told  him  when  to  stop  his  paw- 
ing or  pounding.  These  movements  were  so  slight  that  for 
a  long  time  they  were  not  observed  by  any  one,  and  yet 
they  could  be  perceived  and  reacted  to  by  this  horse. 

Now,  in  the  case  of  the  Piper  controls,  we  know  in  the 
first  place  that  we  are  dealing  with  an  extremely  suggestible 
sort  of  consciousness,  whatever  it  is.  Further,  the  normal 
Mrs.  Piper  has  described  at  some  length  to  me  her  great 
sensitiveness  to  voices,  a  sensitiveness  so  great  that  she  bases 
her  likes  and  dislikes  to  people  upon  their  voices,  and  reads 
their  character  by  their  inflections  and  tones  more  than  by 
any  other  one  indication.  But  the  voice,  aided  by  casual 
touches  now  and  then,  is  the  one  source  of  information  at 
present  open  to  the  control,  and  with  his  greatly  heightened 
suggestibility  and  the  focussing  of  all  his  consciousness 
upon  this  one  avenue,  how  can  we  question  that  he  obtains 
from  the  voices  of  those  present  all  the  hints  that  he  needs  ? 
Even  if  the  sitter  abstains  from  speaking,  as  Hyslop  did 
for  two  sittings,  the  manager  must  talk  for  the  sitter,  and 
we  have  no  indication  as  to  how  far  the  sitter  kept  the 
manager  ignorant  of  the  correctness  of  the  answers.  Be- 
sides, after  Hyslop  began  to  speak  himself,  matters  went 
much  better.  Not  only  this,  but  the  fact  that  nowadays  the 
medium's  head  is  buried  in  the  pillow,  with  closed  eyes, 
and  the  fact  that  the  control  insists  upon  the  sitter  speaking 
into  the  right  hand,  which  he  calls  his  head,  as  well  as  the 
control's  constant  injunctions  to  speak  slowly,  and  loudly, 
as  if  he  were  a  little  deaf,  are  well  calculated  to  put  the 
sitter  off  his  guard,  so  that  he  finds  himself  acting  as  we 
do  before  a  deaf  person,  conveying  information  to  others 

309 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

present  in  a  half  whisper,  or  venting  his  feelings  in  ex- 
clamations, etc.,  which  indicate  to  the  control  his  state  of 
mind. 

Taking  into  consideration  all  these  things,  therefore,  it 
does  not  seem  to  me  that  we  need  to  assume  any  super- 
normal source  of  knowledge  for  the  content  of  the  Piper 
messages,  but  may  refer  them  chiefly  to  a  heightened  sug- 
gestibility to  involuntary  betrayals  of  the  sitter,  with  a 
modicum  of  guessing,  fishing,  and  inference. 

4.  Much  is  made  of  the  rapid  transitions  from  one  per- 
sonality to  another,  as  if  many  characters  were  on  the  stage 
at  once,  etc.  We  should  remember,  however,  that  as  the 
records  are  printed  this  display  of  various  characters  is 
rather  misleading.  In  very  many  instances  when  a  sup- 
posedly new  character  suddenly  speaks,  the  only  way  of 
knowing  that  the  character  has  changed  is  by  inferring  it 
from  the  message.  The  new  person  does  not,  in  many  cases, 
announce  himself,  and  is  only  supposed  to  be  present  be- 
cause the  message  is  nonsensical  if  given  by  the  preceding 
speaker.  In  such  a  case,  the  sitter  frequently  asks,  **  Is 
this  so  and  so?  "  and  then  it  is  easy  for  the  control  to 
fall  in  with  the  suggestion.  In  other  cases  no  comment  at 
all  is  made  in  the  sitting,  and  the  person  writing  up  the 
sitting  infers  the  new  personality  from  the  context  without 
any  name  being  given. 

But  such  a  proceeding  is  not  justifiable,  for  we  have  no 
evidence  that,  if  the  control  were  left  to  itself,  it  would 
continue  in  the  new  character.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
such  lapses  are  often  genuine  lapses,  i.  e.,  the  control 
really  loses  connections  for  a  minute,  but  would  never  have 
thought  of  such  a  specious  excuse  for  his  inconsequential 
remarks  if  the  sitters  had  not  invented  it  for  him.  To  put 
it  more  plainly,  the  so-called  dramatic  transition  is  a  cre- 
ation of  the  sitters'  minds  just  as  much  as  the  impersona- 
tions of  their  own  friends.  They  have  thus  built  up  by 
degrees  a  very  complex  theory,  serried  ranks  of  spirits  be- 

310 


THEORY    OF    THE    PH^ER    CASE 

tween  the  sitter  and  his  friend,  which  came  into  existence 
as  the  need  arose  of  making  the  incoherences  of  the  control 
appear  reasonable.  In  the  old  days  Phinuit  took  direct 
control  and  spoke  to  the  sitter,  but  frequently  yielded  to 
friends  of  the  sitter.  But  this  proved  rather  hazardous  to 
the  sense  of  the  sittings,  and  the  tradition  was  developed 
that  the  regular  control  was  the  only  one  who  should  speak 
through  the  medium,  spirits  giving  their  messages  to  him, 
he  giving  them  to  the  medium,  and  the  medium  writing  or 
speaking  them.  Nowadays  we  have,  closest  to  the  sitter, 
the  medium's  right  hand,  then  Rector,  who  is  controlling 
the  hand ;  then  Hodgson,  who  is  managing  the  other  side ; 
then  the  spirit  friend,  who  speaks  to  Hodgson,  who  speaks 
to  Rector,  who  manipulates  the  hand  which  writes.  Nat- 
urally, with  so  many  agencies,  almost  any  mistake  can  be 
explained. 

But  the  point  I  wish  to  insist  upon  is  that  all  this  ex- 
planation has  not  been  given  by  the  control  in  the  first 
place,  but  by  the  sitters,  notably  Hyslop  and  later  Pid- 
dington.  Hodgson  also  did  his  share  while  alive.  Among 
them  the  various  believers  have  framed  a  theory,  which, 
being  offered  to  the  control,  was  accepted  as  everything  is 
which  is  given  it  sympathetically.  The  controls  themselves 
have  thus  been  given  a  spiritistic  education  for  over  twenty 
years  in  all,  so  that  whatever  they  were  in  the  beginning,  y 
they  are  now  thoroughly  dyed-in-the-wool  Spiritists.  The 
education  of  the  sitter  by  a  materialising  medium  can  be 
paralleled  by  the  education  of  the  control  by  a  Spiritistic 
sitter. 

5.  If  the  control  is  a  secondary  personality  and  nothing 
else,  with  the  high  suggestibility  mentioned  above,  then  we 
have  a  consistent  explanation  for  the  character  of  all  its 
utterances.  There  is  the  same  combination  of  high  and  ac- 
curate memory  by  the  subconscioas,  with  inability  to  carry 
on  a  train  of  thought  alone  for  much  time,  that  we  find  in 
secondary  personalities.     When  the  control  is  left  to  him- 

311 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

self  the  writing  begins  to  ramble,  and  finally  becomes  more 
or  less  incoherent,  and  stops,  after  he  has  made  appeals  to 
the  sitters  to  speak  to  him.  The  very  life  of  the  control 
seems  to  depend  upon  his  being  stimulated  by  questions  and 
suggestions.  Again  we,  as  well  as  others,  have  said  that  the 
control  is  lying  and  shifty,  as  are  secondary  personalities, 
but  the  case  would  probably  be  better  stated  thus :  that  the 
control,  like  all  impressionable  and  untrained  conscious- 
nesses, tends  to  believe  that  any  vivid  idea  is  true,  does  not 
clearly  distinguish  between  ideas  and  reality,  and  so  confuses 
them  in  his  assertions  about  them.  To  the  control,  the  ficti- 
tious Borst  and  Bessie  were  really  as  genuine  and  vivid  as 
any  of  the  other  trance  personalities  or  spirits,  and  he  was 
not  lying  in  any  true  sense  of  the  term  when  he  related  the 
spontaneous  images  that  came  up  as  if  they  were  facts.  He 
is  also  shortsighted  and  inconsistent,  being  apparently  un- 
able, if  left  to  himself,  to  work  out  a  rational  scheme  that 
shall  make  his  claims  somewhat  plausible.  So,  on  the  whole, 
my  impression  of  the  control  is  that,  instead  of  showing 
supernormal  knowledge  and  wisdom,  it  is  simply  highly 
suggestible,  and  reacts  to  suggestions  in  the  most  delicate 
way.  Instead  of  being  reasonable  it  is  stupid  and  incon- 
sistent ;  its  coherence  comes  from  the  sitter,  what  there  is 
of  it,  and  if  left  to  itself  it  soon  lapses  into  the  incoherence 
of  the  idiot  or  animal. 

6.  In  this  connection  we  should  discuss  briefly  the  medi- 
umistic  diathesis,  though  here  again  my  remarks  must  be 
taken  as  suggestive  and  not  as  assertive  of  a  completed 
theory.  At  present  they  are  only  a  working  hypothesis. 
Are  there  any  common  traits  in  psychic  mediums,  that  is, 
in  those  which  manifest  through  some  form  of  the  trance, 
crystal  gazing,  or  automatic  writing?  From  what  I  have 
seen,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  find  in  such  characters  a  highly 
impressionable,  sensitive  type  of  mind,  with  a  vividness  of 
imagery  and  a  tendency  to  feelings  of  premonition  and 
fatality.     Such  characters  realise  more  clearly  than  most 

312 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

of  us  do  the  many  ideas  that  arise  spontaneously,  and  are 
inclined  to  accept  these  ideas  as  omens.  They  are  also  sub- 
ject to  moods,  and  are  under  the  control  of  their  impulses 
more  than  are  other  people.  In  these  tendencies  we  seem  to 
get  the  starting  point  for  splits  of  personality,  which  may 
or  may  not  disrupt  the  original  self. 

Psychologically,  we  cannot  assert  that  any  personality 
is  perfectly  unified.  Even  the  most  coherent  and  closely 
knit  mind  has  lapses ;  and  in  revery,  moments  of  relaxation, 
and  the  moments  before  and  after  sleep,  we  fall  into  states 
of  dissociation  in  which  very  vivid  images  may  thrust  them- 
selves into  our  minds  without  apparent  cause.  Sometimes 
these  are  merely  phantasmagoric,  without  emotional  feel, 
but  at  other  times  there  are  emotional  associations,  or  per- 
haps the  feeling  of  deja  vu,  or  the  sense  of  impending 
good  or  bad  fortune.  No  careful  study  has  as  yet  been 
made  of  the  origin  of  these  images  of  waking  life,  but  we 
have  some  very  interesting  eases  of  the  next  stages  in  dis- 
sociation. 

Many,  if  not  all,  persons  can  by  some  practice  learn 
how  partly  to  dissociate  the  personality.  This  may  be  done 
in  various  ways.  Sometimes  merely  lying  back  in  a  chair 
with  intent  to  reverise,  is  sufficient.  In  other  cases,  the 
crystal  aids  in  objectifying  the  images.  In  others,  auto- 
matic writing  is  easier.  Whatever  the  means  employed,  the 
result  is  that  submerged  trains  of  thought  now  come  to  the 
surface,  trains  which  in  our  ordinary  waking  state  we  are 
unconscious  of  and  cannot  recall  voluntarily.  They  have 
become  so  cut  off  from  the  emotions  and  aims  of  our  upper 
mind  that  they  have  dropped  out  of  it,  but  they  still  re- 
tain an  existence  in  the  lower  region,  which  is  both  the 
lumber  room  and  jail  of  the  self. 

The  nature  of  these  subconscious  ideas  and  their  influ- 
ence upon  the  waking  self  is  at  present  one  of  the  most 
disputed  and  uncertain  points  in  psychology.  We  have  all 
shades  of  opinion,  from  those  psychologists  and  biologists 
23  313 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

who  maintain  that  here  is  nothing  but  neural  action  with- 
out consciousness,  to  those  Psychical  Researchers  like  Myers, 
who  are  convinced  that  the  subconscious  is  the  germinating 
place  of  all  man's  highest  faculties,  or  like  James,  who  be- 
lieve that  it  is  our  avenue  of  communication  with  God.  In 
the  middle  ground  between  these  extremes  we  find  various 
physicians  and  psychologists  who  do  not  classify  the  sub- 
conscious mind  as  either  higher  or  lower  than  the  conscious 
self,  but  rather  view  the  whole  mind  as  a  working  unity, 
of  which  what  we  call  the  conscious  mind  is  only  the  pres- 
ent functioning  centre,  the  tool  or  working  material  with 
which  we  carry  out  our  purposes.  Out  of  the  countless  im- 
pressions and  combinations  of  them  to  which  the  nervous 
system  reacts,  and  which  leave  memory  traces  upon  nervous 
centres  and  the  mind,  only  a  few  come  into  awareness,  and 
of  these  few  many  are  rejected  at  once  as  inappropriate  or 
undesirable. 

The  undesirable  ones  are,  from  the  mind's  standpoint, 
those  which  break  up  its  habits  and  tendencies,  destroy  its 
purposes,  etc.,  or,  from  another  standpoint,  they  are  shocks 
given  either  to  the  nervous  system  or  the  mind.  The  mind 
tends  naturally  to  eject  such  stimuli  as  soon  and  as  com- 
pletely as  possible,  but  in  many  cases  they  are  too  strong 
to  be  thus  ejected,  and  must  either  be  harmonised,  that  is, 
associated  with  the  previous  ideas,  or  else  the  self  tends  to 
split  either  consciously  or  unconsciously.  In  such  cases  the 
way  in  which  the  self  reacts  seems  to  depend  very  largely 
upon  the  number  of  constellations,  the  width  of  the  per- 
son's horizon,  and  his  mental  breadth,  as  well  as  upon  the 
close  knitting  together  of  each  constellation.  The  person 
whose  interests  are  few,  and  much  more  the  person  whose 
interests  are  both  narrow  and  intense,  is  perhaps  most  sub- 
ject to  this  sort  of  disturbance.  If  the  self  is  widely  or- 
ganised but  plastic,  the  shocking  ideas  are  gradually  as- 
similated, modifying  the  old  somewhat  and  themselves 
being  modified  in  accordance  with  the  person's  needs  and 

314 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

his  ability  and  opportunity  of  verifying  or  disproving  the 
new  ideas. 

If  the  self  is  less  well  balanced,  the  person  goes  through 
a  very  painful  and  agonising,  but  largely  conscious,  period 
of  doubt  and  adjustment,  in  which  he  alternates  from  one 
standpoint  to  another,  being  in  fact  a  mild  case  of  alter- 
nating personalities,  with  little  or  no  amnesia,  but  with 
the  stress  or  emphasis  very  different  in  the  two  moods.  By 
degrees  these  alternating  selves  or  moods  are  harmonised, 
though  it  may  sometimes  take  months  or  years,  and  the 
person  becomes  whole  once  more. 

But  if  the  person  is  still  less  well  organised,  or  if  the 
shock  is  great  enough,  the  new  idea  may  be  unendurable  to 
the  personality,  may  seem  so  inimical  to  it  that  it  must  be 
rejected  regardless  of  whether  it  is  true  or  not,  in  order  to 
save  the  personality.  In  such  eases  the  person  emerges 
from  the  shock  with  forgetfulness  of  it.  To  his  waking 
mind  it  is  as  if  the  event  had  never  been.  But  later  on 
nervous  symptoms  may  appear.  The  person  may  become 
subject  to  convulsive  attacks,  or  to  broken  sleep  and  terri- 
fying dreams,  or  may  break  down  nervously  without  any 
apparent  cause.  It  is  supposed  that  in  such  cases  the  shock- 
ing idea  was  abruptly  dissociated  from  the  conscious  self, 
but  it  had  sufficient  vitality  to  persist  and  associate  with 
itself  other  ideas  which  had  not  been  woven  into  the  normal 
consciousness,  or  were  not  in  use  by  it,  and  also  to  form 
associations  with  some  motor  centres,  so  that  through  them 
it  found  means  of  expression.  Not  only  this,  but,  if  the 
shock  was  great  enough,  instead  of  persisting  for  a  time 
and  gradually  dying  out,  as  is  probably  usually  the  case,  it 
may  continue  to  grow,  forming  more  and  more  associa- 
tions, and  making  inroads  upon  the  normal  self,  depriving 
it  by  degrees  of  its  own  associations,  until  the  secondary 
self  may  at  length  be  the  larger  and  the  primary  self  be 
only  a  shrunken  remnant. 

Secondary  personalities,  therefore,  present  all  grada- 
315 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

tions  from  the  moods  of  the  normal  self  down,  and  their 
intelligence  is  different  from  the  normal  as  they  become 
more  integrated,  since  they  are  created  from  the  material 
left  over  from  or  unused  by  the  normal  self.  Just  in  pro- 
portion as  psychiatrists  are  able  to  study  such  cases  in  de- 
tail, they  find  that  the  memories,  associations,  emotions,  etc., 
manifested  by  the  secondary  personality  are  traceable  to 
events  in  the  person 's  life  which  either  seemed  unimportant 
to  the  primary  personality,  or  else  were  so  inimical  to  it 
that  it  forced  them  out  of  its  presence  forthwith. 

In  cases  where  there  has  been  no  shock,  and  where  the 
person  voluntarily  practises  attaining  abstraction,  as  in 
crystal  gazing  or  automatic  writing,  either  unimportant  or 
long-past  experiences  are  the  ones  most  likely  to  emerge. 
Miss  Goodrich-Freer,  for  instance,  in  many  cases  traced  her 
crystal  visions  back  to  unattended-to  sensations,  and  Mrs. 
Verrall  notes  that  her  automatic  hand  wrote  accounts  of 
things  read  twenty-odd  years  before,  while  quite  neglecting 
the  acquisitions  of  recent  years.  This  is  just  what  we 
should  expect  if  a  state  of  dissociation  is  really  attained. 
But  these  very  characteristics  make  the  task  of  tracing  the 
origin  of  such  ideas  difficult,  so  that  while  the  presumption 
is  that  all  the  content  of  crystals  or  automatic  writing  is 
so  derived,  we  can  only  demonstrate  it  in  some  exceptional 
cases,  where  the  person  either  runs  across  objective  evi- 
dence, or  can  be  subjected  to  some  psycho-analytic  method 
or  hypnoidisation  in  order  to  bring  up  the  submerged 
events. 

How,  then,  are  we  to  summarise  the  ease  of  Mrs.  Piper  ? 
In  her  case  we  have,  in  the  first  place,  the  impressionable, 
impulsive  diathesis,  with  tendencies  to  premonition,  etc., 
which  seems  to  favour  the  development  of  secondary  per- 
sonalities. We  have  also  various  nervous  shocks,  which 
would  serve  as  occasions  for  the  split,  and  in  addition  we 
have  a  systematic  encouragement  of  such  splitting,  and  as 
complete  a  severance  of  the  secondary  self  from  the  pri- 

316 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

mary  as  possible,  both  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Piper  and  the 
sitters.  This  latter  factor  probably  explains  why  the  sec- 
ondary self  has  not  enlarged  and  encroached  upon  the  field 
of  the  primary  self  as  time  has  advanced.  The  fact  that 
the  entrance  to  the  transition  stage  from  each  self  to  the 
other  is  voluntary  is  paralleled  in  other  cases  of  secondary 
personality,  like  Miss  Beauchamp's. 

Furthermore,  the  characteristics  of  the  control  are  much 
like  those  of  other  secondary  selves,  so  that  it  would  seem 
as  if  we  could  make  out  a  complete  parallelism  between 
Mrs.  Piper  and  other  cases  of  secondary  personality,  the 
variations  from  other  cases  being  no  greater  than  those 
arising  from  individual  idiosyncrasies. 

At  this  point,  however,  the  Psychical  Researcher  once 
more  appears  to  assure  us  that  we  have  not  touched  the 
real  problem  at  all  when  we  have  proved  that  Mrs.  Piper 
has  a  secondary  personality.  Let  us  grant,  they  say,  that 
that  is  true.  When  she  enters  the  trance  a  secondary  per- 
sonality appears.  Even  if  this  is  so,  they  assure  us,  it  only 
proves  that  it  is  easier  for  spirits  to  communicate  through 
secondary  than  through  primary  personalities.  The  real 
question  is  simply  this :  Is  there  anything  given  in  the  mes- 
sages which  could  not  possibly  have  come  from  the  mind 
of  the  medium,  whether  in  its  primary  or  secondary  state, 
or  the  mind  of  the  sitter? 

To  this  question  our  conclusion  is  that  there  is  nothing 
not  so  derived.  There  is  no  real  evidence  of  supernormal 
knowledge.  Let  us  briefly  recapitulate  the  lengthy  dem- 
onstration already  given  of  this  point  in  our  discussion  of 
sources  of  error  and  of  test  messagas. 

"We  have  noted  that  many  of  the  early  sittings  are  im- 
perfectly recorded,  and  that  such  records  as  there  are  were 
in  part  made  after  the  sitting  and  not  at  the  time,  thus 
allowing  for  the  illusions  of  memory  so  well  demonstrated 
by  Davey.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Pelham  series, 
considered  one  of  the  most  important,  and  of  the  first  Eng- 

317 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

lish  series.  In  the  Hyslop  series,  where  a  great  effort  was 
made  to  take  down  every  word  spoken,  and  not  to  touch 
the  medium,  the  number  of  so-called  test  messages  is  much 
less  than  in  the  imperfectly  recorded  earlier  series,  and  the 
messages  are  easily  explicable  as  inferences  or  guesses.  This 
is,  of  course,  totally  different  from  Hyslop 's  own  opinion, 
but  even  Psychical  Researchers  differ  greatly  from  Hyslop 
as  to  the  value  of  his  sittings.  Further,  no  precautions 
were  taken  as  to  suggestions  from  the  inflections  of  Hodg- 
son's and  Hyslop 's  voices.  In  the  Newbold  series,  important 
both  from  its  length  and  the  alleged  translation  of  Greek, 
Newbold  himself  notes  the  incompleteness  of  the  record. 
In  the  latest  published  series,  to  prove  the  identity  of 
Hodgson,  the  Researchers  do  not  claim  satisfactory  results, 
and  cite  no  test  messages.  In  the  cross-correspondence 
tests  we  have  shown  that  Mrs.  and  Miss  Verrall,  the  two 
mediums  with  whom  most  of  Mrs.  Piper's  correspondences 
were  obtained,  were  having  sittings  with  her  during  the 
time  of  the  tests,  and  that  there  were  no  correspondences 
before  the  sittings.  In  the  unpublished  series^  in  my  pos- 
session, in  which  the  translation  of  Latin  is  the  chief  thing, 
the  processes  of  guessing  and  inference  are  exactly  similar 
to  those  in  the  Newbold  series.  And  in  Dr.  Hall's  series 
my  inferences  as  to  the  sources  of  knowledge  of  the  control 
were  positively  shown  by  our  carefully  arranged  sets  of 
suggestions  to  which  the  control  reacted  so  quickly. 

I  should  add  to  the  usual  guessing,  inference,  etc.,  of 
the  control  another  factor  which  may  explain  some  of  the 
incoherences  and  the  lucky  hits.  We  have  said  that  in  the 
mediumistic  diathesis  spontaneous  images,  vivid  and  dis- 
tinct, are  very  marked,  and  that  in  the  case  of  the  young 
medium  studied  by  us  this  was  very  interestingly  shown 
in  the  trance.  May  this  not  also  be  the  case  with  the  Piper 
control?     Ideas  arise  in  his  mind  quite  disconnected  from 

*  Now  published  in  Proceedings,  vol.  xxiv. 
318 


THEORY    OF    THE    PIPER    CASE 

the  subject  of  conversation,  and  arrest  his  attention.  He 
records  them,  and  if  the  sitter  can  supply  a  setting  for 
them  the  control  has  made  a  hit;  if  not,  he  has  introduced 
confusion.  But  the  control  does  not  know  their  origin  any 
more  than  the  sitter  does,  and  can  only  say,  *'  It  came  to 
me."  If,  however,  we  could  only  subject  Mrs.  Piper  to 
psycho-analysis  or  to  hypnoidisation,  is  it  not  probable  that 
we  could  find  the  origin  of  these  cryptic  sayings  somewhere 
in  her  own  life? 

When  we  consider  that  out  of  the  vast  mass  of  pub- 
lished records  only  approximately  110  messages  at  all  con- 
form to  the  idea  of  "  test  messages,"  and  that,  as  we  have 
shown  in  detail  already,  nearly  all  of  these  can  be  reason- 
ably explained  as  the  result  of  suggestions,  lucky  guesses, 
or  inferences,  we  cannot  feel  that  in  their  twenty-three  years 
of  work  the  controls  have  shown  any  great  amount  of 
perspicacity.  When  we  add  to  this  that  in  the  cross-cor- 
respondence tests  with  Mrs.  Piper  the  Researchers  them- 
selves claim  but  23  out  of  over  100  as  correct,  and 
that  we  have  explained  most  of  those  23  as  the  result 
of  a  common  milieu,  or  of  suggestion,  we  cannot  consider 
the  argument  for  supernormal  knowledge  much  strength- 
ened. Nor  can  the  fact  that  during  all  these  years  the 
controls  have  given  correctly  the  names  of  various  sitters 
and  their  deceased  friends,  with  facts  about  their  family 
life,  be  cited  as  real  evidence,  for  we  have  noted  repeatedly 
that  the  records  are  too  incomplete  for  us  to  judge  such 
cases  either  for  or  against. 

It  is  easy  for  us  to  understand  that  such  things  may  be 
very  convincing  to  the  sitter,  especially  to  the  sitter  who 
has  recently  lost  a  beloved  one,  and  for  all  that  may  not 
have  one  particle  of  scientific  value.  The  alleged  entrance 
of  any  departed  friend  is  well  calculated  to  upset  one's 
calm  judgment  if  one  really  believes  in  a  personal  immor- 
tality, especially  if  the  death  is  recent,  and  when  added  to 
this  the  record  of  the  sitting  is  imperfect,  the  general  public 

319 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

should  not  be  called  upon  to  give  credence  to  the  claims 
of  the  controls. 

I  maintain,  therefore,  that  even  the  "  test  messages  " 
and  the  cross-correspondence  tests  of  the  Piper  case,  far 
from  making  out  a  prima  facie  case  for  some  supernormal 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  controls,  are  emphatically 
against  any  such  claims,  and  that  the  remainder  of  the 
content  of  the  sittings  is  so  imperfectly  recorded  that  the 
Researchers  have  no  right  to  present  such  sittings  as  of 
any  serious  value.  To  sum  the  whole  situation  up  in  a 
word,  the  entire  content  of  the  Piper  messages  can  be  re- 
ferred (1)  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  the  mind  as  seen  in  ap- 
perception, inference,  etc.;  (2)  to  a  greatly  heightened 
suggestibility;  (3)  to  a  modicum  necessarily  unexplained 
because  of  imperfect  records. 


CHAPTER   XX 

TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA:    SPONTANEOUS 
AND    EXPERIMENTAL    THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

We  cannot  leave  the  subject  of  spirit  communication 
without  at  least  a  brief  discussion  of  the  phenomena  sub- 
sumed under  the  names  of  telepathy  and  thouf^^ht-traiLsfer- 
ence,  because  spirit  communication  assumes  that  the  dis- 
carnate  spirit  can  somehow  affect  either  the  mind  of  the  me- 
dium or  of  the  sitter  without  using  ordinary  sensory  means. 
Furthermore,  many  of  the  Psychical  Researchers  who  are 
not  yet  willing  to  grant  spirit  communication  do  believe 
in  telepathy,  and  the  popular  accounts  in  papers  and  mag- 
azines have  given  a  greatly  exaggerated  notion  to  the  pub- 
lic of  the  amount  and  value  of  the  proof. 

Fir.st  of  all,  let  it  be  said  that,  as  defined  again  and 
again  by  the  Psychical  Researchers,  "  Telepathy  is  a  name, 
not  a  theory ;  it  implies  nothing  as  to  the  mode  of  thought- 
transference,  other  than  that  it  may  occur  without  use  of 
the  ordinary  sensory  channels."  But  this  implies  a  very 
large  theory,  viz.,  that  there  can  be  communications  from 
person  to  person  without  use  of  any  part  of  the  body. 

However,  under  this  name  are  grouped  all  such  things 
as  crystal  gazing,  veridical  dreams,  death  warnings,  pre- 
monitions that  come  true,  automatic  writing,  and  even 
spirit  communication  itself  by  some. 

To  discuss  all  these  fully  would  be  the  task  of  a  book 
instead  of  a  chapter.  Here  I  will  merely  define  the  terms 
in  the  most  cursory  fashion,  and  cite  the  most  notable  con- 
tributions to  the  subject,  with  a  discussion  of  the  kind  of 
evidence  which  is  acceptable  to  the  Psychical  Researchers. 

321 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

Thought-transference  is  a  term  used  synonymously  witH 
telepathy,  and  under  these  two  fall  all  the  other  classes 
referred  to.  In  crystal  gazing  the  experimenter  looks  into 
a  glass  ball,  or  a  glass  of  water  or  of  ink,  and  watches  the 
pictures  which  may  appear  there.  In  some  instances  he 
finds  that  they  represent  events  that  either  have  hap- 
pened, are  happening,  or  later  happen  in  the  life  of  him- 
self or  of  some  friend  or  acquaintance.  In  automatic 
writing  the  person  holds  a  pencil  or  employs  the  plan- 
chette,  and  similarly  writes  things  which  he  has  no 
knowledge  that  he  knew.  The  veridical  dream  is  one 
that  is  found  to  be  true.  The  death  warning  or  premoni- 
tion occurs  within  twelve  hours  of  the  death  of  the  person 
concerned. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  in  all  these  cases 
most  of  the  crystal  visions,  automatic  messages,  dreams, 
premonitions,  etc.,  have  no  discoverable  meaning  or  are 
easily  explained  by  reference  to  the  experimenter's  own 
knowledge  and  life.  The  whole  question  of  how  to  inter- 
pret the  few  that  do  seem  to  be  true,  and  that  cannot  be 
traced  back  to  any  known  psychical  laws,  becomes  a  ques- 
tion of  how  often  we  should  expect  to  find  such  coinci- 
dences with  facts,  if  only  chance  and  the  ordinary  laws  of 
the  human  mind  were  at  work.  "What  chance  is  there,  for 
instance,  of  my  happening  to  dream  about  a  friend  at  the 
time  he  is  dying?  What  chance  is  there  that — as  just 
occurred  to  me — my  thought  of  a  friend,  whom  I  had  not 
seen  for  several  weeks,  will  be  followed  by  her  calling  me 
up  over  the  telephone  within  half  an  hour?  Here  we  get 
into  the  Calculus  of  Probabilities.  For  the  present,  how- 
ever, let  us  leave  this  complex  problem  and  consider  the 
chief  experiments  carried  on  within  the  Society  along  these 
lines. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  which  the  Society  directed 
itself  was  the  study  of  experimental  thought-transference, 
that  is,  the  transference  of  thoughts  under  certain  definite 

322 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

conditions  which  could  be  reproduced  by  any  one,  and 
which  made  it  impossible  for  the  senses  to  come  into  play. 
The  earliest  accounts  of  such  experiments  were  published 
by  Messrs.  Gurney,  Podmore,  and  Myers  in  Phantasms  of 
the  Living,  with  very  many  other  data  on  all  sorts  of 
telepathy.  The  chief  series  of  experiments  described  here 
are  the  following: 

M.  Richet  tried  to  transfer  to  others  the  names  of  French 
authors,  taken  at  random  from  a  dictionary  known  to  the 
collaborators.  His  experiments  involved  five  persons  be- 
sides himself,  one  of  them  a  medium.  The  medium  and  two 
others  sat  at  a  table,  with  their  hands"  on  it.  The  table  was 
connected  with  a  battery  so  that  every  time  it  tilted  a  bell 
rang.  Behind  the  sitters  and  behind  a  large  screen  was 
an  alphabet,  in  front  of  which  sat  a  fourth  person  moving 
a  pencil  steadily  over  the  alphabet  from  beginning  to  end. 
Beside  him  sat  a  fifth,  who  was  to  write  down  the  letter 
over  which  the  pencil  stood  when  the  bell  rang.  Richet 
stood  somewhere  in  the  room  thinking  of  the  name  he  had 
chosen.  The  supposition  is  that  the  sitters  cannot  know 
what  letter  the  pencil  is  over  at  any  time  nor  what  letters 
are  desired,  and  so,  if  the  letters  which  they  tilt  out  corre- 
spond to  those  in  the  name  Richet  is  thinking  of,  there 
must  have  been  a  double  telepathy,  first  from  his  mind  to 
theirs,  impressing  on  them  the  desired  letters,  and,  secondly, 
from  the  tracer's  mind  to  theirs,  impressing  on  them  when 
his  pencil  is  over  a  certain  letter. 

Richet  assumes  that,  since  there  are  twenty-four  letters 
in  the  French  alphabet,  there  is  one  chance  out  of  twenty- 
four  that  if  chance  alone  works,  a  tilted-out  letter  will 
correspond  to  one  in  his  mind.  But  he  gets  eight  times  as 
many  successes,  on  this  assumption,  as  would  be  expected. 
He  concludes,  therefore,  that  the  experiments  strongly 
favour  the  assumption  of  telepathy,  and  says  at  the  end, 
"  One  hesitates  to  launch  oneself  on  the  conceptions 
which  these  experiments  open  up;  but  the  only  alternative 

323 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

would  be  to  question  the  facts  from  an  evidential  point 
of  view." 

One  does  indeed  hesitate,  and  therefore  one  questions 
the  evidence.  Let  us  assume — what  we  might  fairly  ques- 
tion perhaps — that  the  five  collaborators  all  worked  in  good 
faith.  The  entire  set  of  experiments  is  still  vitiated  by  cer- 
tain erroneous  assumptions.  First  of  all,  if  Richet  stood 
where  he  saw  the  movement  of  the  pencil  over  the  alpha- 
bet, it  is  altogether  probable  that  he  gave  involuntary  in- 
dications when  a  desired  letter  was  near,  and  that  the  tracer 
felt  and  responded  to  them  more  or  less  subconsciously,  as 
did  also  the  sitters.  As  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  ac- 
count, such  possibilities  were  not  excluded.  But  even  if 
they  were  excluded,  if  the  sitters,  especially  the  medium, 
had  any  idea  of  the  rate  at  which  the  pencil  was  moving — • 
and  probably  there  were  rehearsals  before  the  real  experi- 
ment began — they  would  get  a  rhythm  which  would  give 
them  a  general  feeling  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  pencil  at 
any  given  time,  and  then  the  letter-habit  would  influence 
the  results.  That  is,  sitters  and  tracer  all  knew  that  names 
of  French  authors  were  to  be  selected;  knowing  this,  the 
tracer  will  tend  to  loiter  over  vowels  and  consonants  most 
frequently  used,  and  the  sitters  will  tend  to  tilt  the  table 
at  the  times  when  they  feel,  from  the  involuntary  indica- 
tions of  Richet  and  their  sense  of  the  rhythm  of  the  pen- 
cil's movement,  that  a  desired  letter  is  near.  When  we 
note  that  out  of  the  six  unequivocal  successes  three  were 
with  E,  two  with  H,  and  one  with  C,  all  of  which  are 
common  letters,  such  an  assumption  is  strengthened,  and 
this  is  still  more  the  case  when  we  add  that  in  seven- 
teen other  cases  the  letter  tilted  out  came  just  before 
or  after  the  one  desired;  that  is,  the  sitters  had  the 
rhythm  of  the  pencil  movement  approximately  but  not 
exactly. 

Experiments  in  transferring  numbers  and  diagrams 
were  expected  to  be  especially  valuable  because  the  effects 

324 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

of  chance  working  alone  could  be  readily  calculated,  and 
some  of  these  are  given  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living. 

First,  there  are  two  sets  of  experiments  performed  by 
Herr  Dessoir  in  the  reproduction  of  diagrams,  the  number 
of  experiments  being  nineteen  in  one  case  and  five  in  the 
other.  In  the  first  series  Herr  Dessoir  was  the  percipient, 
the  drawing  was  usually  done  outside  of  the  room,  and  he 
had  his  eyes  bandaged  and  ears  stuffed.  He  held  the  agent's 
hands  on  his,  "  quite  motionless,"  until  an  image  clearly 
presented  itself,  and  when  the  drawing  was  put  out  of  sight 
he  took  off  the  bandage  and  drew.  In  various  cases  there 
is  a  general  resemblance  between  the  original  and  his  draw- 
ing, but  perhaps  not  enough  so  that  the  diagram  habit 
would  not  account  for  them  all. 

In  the  second  series  Herr  Dessoir  made  the  drawings  in 
the  same  room  with  the  percipient,  so  that  the  effects  of 
hyperesthesia  are  not  excluded  nor  those  of  the  diagram 
habit,  and  the  series — five — is  far  too  short  to  be  of  any 
value  whatever. 

The  Misses  Wingfield  made  a  series  of  400  trials  in  re- 
production of  numbers,  using  numbers  between  10  and 
99.  These  were  written  on  pieces  of  paper,  mixed  in  a 
bowl,  and  drawn  at  hazard,  the  agent  then  fixing  her  mind 
on  the  one  drawni,  while  sitting  about  six  feet  behind  the 
percipient.  The  percipient  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
blindfolded  nor  to  have  had  her  ears  stopped.  In  the  400 
trials,  there  were  27  completely  right  guesses;  21  with  the 
right  digits,  but  reversed;  and  162  in  which  one  digit  was 
correctly  given  and  in  its  right  place.  Chance  alone  would 
have  given  but  4  complete  successes.  The  authors  say,  ' '  The 
odds  (against  chance  alone  being  operative  here)  are  nearly 
two  hundred  thousand  million  trillions  of  trillions  to  one. 
It  would  be  a  very  inadequate  statement  of  the  case  to  say 
that  if  the  waking  hours  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
world  were  for  the  future  continuously  devoted  to  mak- 
ing similar  trials,  life  on  this  planet  would  come  to  an  end 

325 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

without  such  an  amount  of  success  or  anything  like  it 
having  been  accidentally  achieved."   !   ! 

We,  too,  agree  that  the  success  is  not  due  to  chance,  but 
question  whether  it  is  telepathic,  since  hyperaesthesia  was 
not  excluded. 

Liebault  reports  some  experiments  by  Liegeois  upon  a 
hypnotised  girl  of  twenty  years.  But  as  the  drawing  was 
done  in  the  same  room  with  the  subject,  hyperaesthesia  of 
sound  is  not  excluded,  even  if  we  admit  that  sight  was. 
So  also  various  experiments  reported  by  Ochorowicz  are  not 
described  in  sufficient  detail  for  us  to  judge  whether  the 
conditions  were  such  as  to  exclude  all  sorts  of  suggestions 
and  hyperaesthesia. 

Scattered  through  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  are 
also  detailed  reports  of  many  such  experiments,  which  have 
been  finally  summarised  by  Mr.  Thomas  ^  and  criticised. 
He  states  that  since  the  Sidgwick  experiments  in  1889  and 
1890  (which  are  now  discredited  because  fraud  was  found  in 
some  cases,  and  in  others  unsuspected  sources  of  error) ,  no 
long  series  has  been  published,  and  that  in  view  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  possibilities  of  error  gained  since  those 
early  experiments,  the  failure  to  get  new  evidence  under 
the  more  rigid  conditions  now  demanded  must  throw  some 
doubts  on  the  early  results.  On  the  other  hand,  he  does 
not  think  there  is  any  a  priori  impossibility  in  telepathy, 
but  that  it  is  capable  of  being  scientifically  investigated, 
although  physiologists  and  physicists  are  no  better  fitted 
for  this  work  than  any  one  else. 

The  possible  sources  of  error  in  such  experiments — 
assuming  the  good  faith  of  the  experimenter  or  agent  and 
the  percipient  or  subject — are  of  two  chief  kinds.  First, 
there  is  the  possibility  of  hyperaesthesia.  That  is,  the  per- 
cipient may  be  a  person  who  is  unusually  sensitive  to  all 

1 N.  W.  Thomas,  "  Thought  Transference,"  De  La  More  Press, 
1905,  210  pp. 

326 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

sorts  of  impressions,  and  who  can  therefore  get  indications 
from  movements,  reflections,  sounds,  tensions  of  the  body, 
etc.,  which  the  agent  cannot  perceive  and  does  not  know  he 
is  giving.  The  receiving  and  interpreting  of  these  subcon- 
scious and  involuntary  indications  may  be  entirely  sub- 
conscious on  the  part  of  the  percipient  also,  so  that  she  may 
say  honestly  that  she  does  not  know  why  she  had  the  idea, 
and  yet  may  have  got  it  from  the  agent  himself.  This 
source  of  error  has  been  shown  to  be  present  in  very  many 
cases,  and  so  no  experiment  is  valid  where  the  percipient 
and  agent  are  within  sight  or  hearing  of  each  other. 

The  second  source  of  error  lies  in  the  similarity  of 
thought  between  different  persons.  When  the  early  experi- 
ments on  thought-transference  were  published  sceptics 
were  forced  to  find  an  explanation,  and  began  to  study  the 
common  associations  in  our  minds.  They  found  that  all 
minds  have  certain  common  tendencies,  so  that,  e.  g.,  in  the 
numbers  from  one  to  ten  certain  ones  like  three  and  seven 
will  appear  more  often  in  our  mind  than  others;  certain 
letters  of  the  alphabet  and  certain  diagrams,  in  the  same 
way,  turn  up  more  often  in  our  minds  than  others.  Now 
it  is  evident  that  in  the  early  experiments,  before  these 
habits  were  known,  when  the  agent  chose  some  diagram  or 
number  that  happened  to  come  into  his  mind,  the  chances 
were  in  favour  of  his  choosing  the  most  common  one  and 
of  the  percipient's  thinking  of  the  most  common  one,  too. 
That  is,  the  number,  letter,  or  diagram  habit  could  have 
free  play  and  vitiated  the  results.  This  source  of  error 
can  be  easily  removed  if  the  diagrams,  words,  letters,  etc., 
to  be  used  are  thrown  into  a  box  and  picked  out  by  lot. 

The  sources  of  error  due  to  fraud  Thomas  believes  are 
well  enough  known  to  be  guarded  against,  but  it  seems  to 
me  doubtful  whether  the  Psychical  Researchers,  or  perhaps 
one  might  even  say  psychological  experimenters  of  all  sorts, 
have  any  conception  of  the  mass  of  feelings  focussing  about 
the  sense  of  self  that  modify  the  reactions  of  any  subject 

327 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

who  is  serving  in  a  psychological  experiment.  Some  Ger- 
man psychologists  have  noted  briefly  that  in  working  with 
children  we  must  always  be  on  our  guard  in  interpreting 
results  because  they  are  so  likely  to  give  the  answers  which 
they  think  are  wanted,  or  which  they  think  proper,  etc., 
while  critics  of  the  questionnaire  method  have  raised  sim- 
ilar objections  to  the  answers  given  under  its  conditions. 
But  one  might  go  further  than  this.  One  might  question 
whether  any  subject  who  is  conscious  that  his  mental 
processes  are  undergoing  scrutiny  will  not  thereby  be  made 
self-conscious,  keenly  sensitive  as  to  whether  his  reactions 
are  such  as  the  experimenter  desires  or  thinks  normal,  and 
inclined  to  modify  his  reactions  in  the  directions  which  he 
believes  desirable.  This  usually  goes  on  in  the  outskirts  of 
consciousness,  perhaps  in  the  subconscious  mind  itself,  but 
it  must  modify  the  results  of  all  experiments  where  the  ex- 
perimenter has  a  definite  theory  or  opinion,  because  when 
he  has  one  he  cannot  help  betraying  it  at  times.  This  source 
of  error,  of  course,  shades  over  into  conscious  fraud  on 
one  side  and  into  hj^pergesthesias  and  subconscious  processes 
on  the  other.  It  could,  in  experiments  on  thought-transfer- 
ence, probably  be  entirely  guarded  against  if  agent  and 
percipient  did  not  know  each  other's  opinions  and  did  not 
see  each  other  at  all  during  the  time  when  the  series  of 
experiments  was  being  tried. 

Thomas  next  criticises  in  detail  the  various  experiments. 
Eichet's  experiments  in  clairvoyance  between  1887  and 
1888  do  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  hyperesthesia,  and 
are  all  too  short  to  be  conclusive.  His  experiments  with 
cards,  out  of  20,580  trials,  contain  seven  per  cent  more  suc- 
cesses than  chance  alone  would  explain,  a  favourable  per- 
centage so  small  that  one  wonders  whether  it  would  not 
vanish  if  the  series  were  continued.  Mrs.  Verrall's  experi- 
ments {Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
vol.  vii,  p.  174)  and  Guthrie's  do  not  exclude  hypersesthesia, 
and  Guthrie  does  not  describe  his  conditions  with  sufficient 

328 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

detail.  Thomas  is  inclined  to  think  that  the  Newnham  case 
(Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  iii, 
p.  6)  is  a  genuine  one,  and  that  the  Sidgwick  experiinents 
from  1889  to  1892  may  have  had  genuine  examples  of  telep- 
athy in  some  instances,  as  well  as  the  many  other  experi- 
ments carried  on  at  that  time,  in  which  the  percentage  of 
successes  was  considerably  above  what  chance  alone  would 
give.  Nevertheless,  he  admits  that  the  fact  that  the  per- 
centages have  steadily  lessened  with  more  rigid  conditions 
must  make  us  fear  that  there  was  some  serious  source  of 
error  in  all  these. 

The  various  experiments  on  telepathy  at  distances  vary- 
ing from  thirty  or  forty  feet  to  miles  are  discussed  in  some 
detail,  but  usually  their  conditions  are  not  exactly  described, 
and  in  any  case  they  are  far  too  few  in  number  to  prove 
anything.  Here  fall  Janet's  experiments  with  Leonie  B., 
Ermaeora's,  Van  Eeden's,  etc. 

Thomas  then  describes  a  long  series  of  his  own,  but  curi- 
ously enough,  although  he  warns  us  so  carefully  against 
hyperesthesia,  he  was  only  seven  feet  distant  from  his  sub- 
ject, and  so  did  not  exclude  sounds  from  breathing,  in- 
voluntary movements,  etc.,  although  he  seems  to  have  taken 
great  pains  to  exclude  sight.  H«  says  that  his  results  are 
inconclusive,  but  believes  they  tend  slightly  to  favour 
telepathy. 

He  gives  as  his  final  conviction  that  much  more  sys- 
tematic effort  will  be  necessary  before  we  can  assume  that 
telepathy  is  proven  by  experiments.  Spontaneous  cases  and 
crystal  gazing  add  something  to  the  evidence,  but  still  do 
not  prove  the  case.  It  is  quite  indefensible  to  assume,  as 
is  constantly  done,  that  telepathy  is  a  proven  fact,  and 
can  be  assumed  as  a  cause  of  almost  any  inexplicable  phe- 
nomenon such  as  spirit  communication  or  coincidences  in 
thought. 

In  his  recent  book,  "  Naturalisation  of  the  Supernat- 
ural," ]\Tr.  Podmore  also  sums  up  the  work  done  since  the 
24  329 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

establishment  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and 
gives  somewhat  new  standards  as  well  as  new  cases. 

In  this  work  he  summarises  the  experiments  on  thought- 
transference  performed  by  the  Sidgwicks  and  Miss  John- 
son, with  Mr.  Smith  as  operator  and  two  young  men  as 
percipients.  Recognising  that  the  success  obtained  under 
these  conditions  might  be  due  to  some  unrecognised  form 
of  unconscious  communication  or  suggestion,  the  experi- 
ments were  continued  the  next  year  with  the  same  operator, 
but  a  different  percipient,  and  in  these  two  series,  in  one 
case  the  two  were  in  the  same  room,  while  in  the  other  a 
curtain  was  put  between  them  or  they  were  in  separate 
rooms.  When  nothing  intervened,  out  of  126  trials  there 
were  26  complete  successes — the  transference  being  of  num- 
bers from  10  to  90.  When  in  separate  rooms,  out  of  148 
trials  20  were  complete  successes,  and  in  71  further  trials 
7  were  complete  successes,  while  in  31  others  there  were 
none.  In  all,  there  were  252  trials  with  the  two  separated 
by  a  partition,  with  27  complete  successes. 

The  slight  difference  in  distance,  but  with  sight  cut  off 
and  probably  sound  also,  reduced  the  percentage  of  suc- 
cesses very  materially,  although  it  is  still  far  larger  than 
chance  would  explain.  Podmore  is  inclined  to  accept  Mrs. 
Sidgwick's  suggestion  that  the  difference  is  probably  due 
to  the  fact  that  when  the  percipient  and  agent  were  alone 
they  did  not  expect  much  success,  and  also  found  the  ex- 
periments far  more  monotonous  and  difficult.  Nearly  400 
other  experiments  were  made  with  the  same  percipient, 
with  the  agent  separated  by  two  closed  doors  and  a  passage, 
and  practically  no  success  was  obtained.  Is  there  any 
reason  to  suppose  that,  without  actual  distance  being  in- 
creased, but  with  still  further  precautions  to  make  sounds 
impossible,  and  to  eliminate  the  effects  of  the  number  habit, 
the  number  of  successes  would  not  be  still  further  di- 
minished ? 

As  against  Thomas,  only  the  year  before  his  book  ap- 

330 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

peared,  E.  T.  Bennett,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  from  1882  to  1904,  summed  up  the 
experiments  on  thought-transference  thus :  40  different  in- 
vestigators have  made  over  12,000  experiments,  with  600 
drawings,  and  in  Pliantasms  of  the  Living  700  more  cases 
are  examined  and  found  to  afford  evidence  of  thought- 
transference,  and  he  concludes :  ' '  This  disposes  of  any  alle- 
gations that  attempts  have  been  made  to  raise  a  structure 
on  insufficient  foundations,"  and  also,  it  seems  to  me,  his 
remark  illustrates  the  inveterate  tendency  of  the  Psychical 
Researchers  to  prefer  quantity  to  quality,  and  the  funda- 
mental difference  in  that  respect  between  them  and  sci- 
entists. No  matter  how  many  fagots  are  bound  together 
the  bundle  will  never  be  strong  if  each  individual  fagot 
is  broken  in  several  places. 

Of  course  these  experiments  could  not  escape  criticism, 
and  are  discussed  in  the  National  Review  for  January, 
1887,  by  Ada  Heather  Bigg  and  Marian  La  Hatchard,  in 
an  article  entitled  "  Some  Miscalled  Cases  of  Thought- 
Transf erence. "  They  take  the  position  that  in  their  ex- 
periments Barrett,  Gurney,  and  Myers  probably  did  not 
exhaust  the  other  alternatives  to  thought-transference,  and 
at  least  that  this  ought  not  to  be  assumed  until  many  more 
experiments  have  been  tried.  They  believe  that  similar 
habits,  education,  etc.,  tend  to  cause  similar  brain  func- 
tioning, and  the  wonder  is  not  that  we  get  apparent  cases 
of  telepathy  now  and  then,  but  that  we  do  not  get  more. 
Lewes  gives  as  an  instance,  that  once  he  and  a  friend  were 
out  walking,  and  hearing  the  sound  of  hoofs  he  remarked 
that  he  thought  the  riders  were  two  women  and  a  man. 
His  friend  said  that  he  had  just  thought  the  same  thing, 
and  the  riders  really  were  as  supposed.  The  explanation  is 
that  as  women  canter  and  men  trot,  the  sounds  registered 
themselves  on  their  brains  and  the  ideas  appeared  seem- 
ingly as  telepathy.  The  number  habit  is  also  referred  to 
by  them  as  another  factor  in  the  experiments  against  telep- 

331 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

athy.  Subtle  suggestions  also  act,  as,  for  instance,  if  a  per- 
son is  told  to  choose  a  number  containing  three  digits,  three 
will  occur  more  than  twice  as  often  as  if  chance  alone  de- 
cided it.  In  choosing  letters  there  are  three  tendencies  es- 
pecially:  (1)  To  choose  a,  b,  and  c;  (2)  to  choose  one's  own 
initials;  (3)  to  choose  z. 

In  the  experiments  already  described  the  time  element 
did  not  enter  to  invalidate  the  conclusions,  since  the  coin- 
cidences were  noted  when  the  experiments  were  made. 
But  in  practically  all  the  rest  of  the  evidence  one  of  the 
most  important  problems,  if  not  the  most  important,  is  the 
question  of  the  reliability  of  memory. 

To-day  we  are  in  a  position  to  make  certain  definite 
statements  with  regard  to  memory.  First  of  all,  to  press 
the  matter  home  to  the  Psychical  Researchers  themselves, 
let  us  quote  the  experiments  of  Davey,  a  member  of  their 
own  Society  in  its  early  days.  (Proceedings  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  iv,  1885-86,  pp.  381-495  and 
index.) 

Mr.  Davey  wished  to  ascertain  how  much  chance  there 
was  of  a  sitter  being  deceived  as  to  the  series  of  events  in 
a  seance  or  sleight-of-hand  performance.  He  himself  was 
a  good  conjurer,  and  he  began  to  give  sittings  to  friends, 
especially  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research, 
Hodgson  among  them.  He  asked  these  friends  to  write 
out  an  account  of  the  seance  immediately  after  it  was 
over,  as  fully  as  possible.  He  wanted  them  to  tell  just 
what  was  done  and  said.  He  himself  wrote  out  what 
was  actually  done  and  said,  and  he  compared  the  two 
accounts. 

The  result  is  the  most  interesting  chapter  on  the  psy- 
chology of  deception  that  has  yet  been  written.  Davey 
found  that  the  sitter  was  in  most  cases  unable  to  give  any 
explanation  at  all  of  how  the  tricks  were  done,  and  when 
he  did  have  theories  they  were  wide  of  the  mark,  unless  he 
had  had  some  training  in  practical  conjuring.     He  was 

332 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

misled  in  various  ways,  the  errors  falling  into  four  prin- 
cipal classes : 

1.  The  sitter  interpolated  as  facts  what  did  not  occur 
but  what  the  medium  made  him  believe  occurred,  e.  g.,  the 
medium  gives  him  a  slate  and  tells  him  to  examine  it  care- 
fully, giving  considerable  patter  about  the  importance  of 
close  examination,  but  at  the  same  time  drawing  back  the 
slate  and  looking  it  over  himself,  thus  showing  the  sitter 
but  one  side,  and  not  even  that  close  at  hand.  The  sitter 
then  writes  that  he  examined  the  slate  carefully.  Or  again, 
perhaps  eight  rings  are  to  be  used,  and  the  sitter  testifies, 
as  a  well-known  professor  did,  that  he  examined  all  eight, 
whereas  in  reality  he  only  touched  two.  Or  again,  the 
medium  brings  forward  a  pile  of  "  eight  "  slates,  which 
really  contains  nine,  but  the  sitter  accepts  the  eight,  and  so 
reports  it.  Or,  as  in  a  case  Hodgson  reports,  of  an  Indian 
juggler's  trick,  when  an  army  officer  was  the  subject.  The 
officer  reported  that  he  put  his  coin  on  the  ground,  whereas 
Hodgson,  who  knew  the  trick  and  was  watching,  saw  the 
juggler  take  it  unobtrusively  from  the  officer's  hand,  just 
as  he  was  about  to  lay  it  on  the  ground.  The  trick  could 
not  have  been  done  if  the  juggler  had  not  had  this  oppor- 
tunity for  substitution. 

2.  This  first  error  is  closely  connected  with  the  second. 
The  sitter  often  confuses  like  ideas,  saying  he  washed  the 
slate  thoroughly  when  he  only  did  it  superficially,  that  he 
tied  up  the  medium  securely  when  he  followed  the  medi- 
um's directions,  that  he  searched  the  medium  thoroughly 
when  he  was  confused  into  thinking  that  he  did  by  the 
medium's  manner,  air,  etc. 

3.  The  order  of  events  is  changed.  The  sitter  believes, 
for  instance,  that  the  medium  never  touched  the  slate  after 
he  himself  washed  it,  whereas  the  medium  did.  He  may 
declare  that  the  medium  never  left  the  room  after  the  ques- 
tion had  been  written  on  the  paper,  whereas  the  medium 
may  have  gone  to  answer  a  ring  at  the  door. 

333 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

4.  He  omits  numerous  details  which  seem  to  him  unim- 
portant, but  which  give  the  medium  the  opportunity  to 
perform  the  trick;  e.  g.,  the  medium  may  turn  aside,  os- 
tensibly to  blow  his  nose,  and  at  that  instant  may  open 
and  read  the  slip  of  paper  in  his  hand.  The  sitter  politely 
ignores  the  act,  and  forgets  about  it  immediately  afterward. 

To  state  it  in  another  way,  what  we  call  our  memory 
is  practically  never  a  perfectly  objective  account  of  objec- 
tive events  in  their  order.  "  My  memory  "of  an  event  is 
a  mass  of  images  of  what  I  saw,  heard,  etc.,  indistinguish- 
ably  mingled  with  my  feelings  about  them,  my  interpreta- 
tions of  what  they  meant,  etc.  This  has  been  well  shown 
within  the  last  few  years  by  the  detailed  experiments  which 
have  been  made  in  Germany  by  Wilhelm  Stern  and  his 
followers  on  the  reliability  of  testimony  in  legal  matters. 
These  men  have  carried  on  many  experiments  both  with 
adults  and  with  children,  in  some  instances  the  subjects 
being  asked  to  write  out  a  complete  account  of  some  room ; 
in  others,  an  account  of  some  incidental  occurrence  to  which 
their  attention  was  not  directed  at  the  time  it  was  happen- 
ing; in  others,  the  account  of  some  event  which  they  be- 
lieved they  would  be  called  upon  to  testify  about  in  court. 
In  the  first  two  classes  of  cases  all  the  errors  noted  by 
Davey  were  found,  that  is,  events  were  inserted  which  did 
not  belong  there,  or  were  modified,  or  the  order  of  events 
was  altered,  and  in  all  three  classes  of  experiments  there 
were  very  many  gaps.  (In  all  these  experiments  the  ac- 
counts were  written  either  within  a  week  or  immediately 
after  the  event.)  Furthermore,  the  extremely  interesting 
discovery  was  made  that  when  the  subjects  were  questioned 
about  the  event  and  the  answers  written  down,  the  number 
of  mistakes  was  from  two  to  three  times  as  numerous  even 
if  the  questions  were  neutral  in  form,  and  still  more  so  if 
they  were  suggestive.  It  goes  without  saying  that  where 
the  subject  himself  has  a  strong  inclination  for  or  against 
a  certain  interpretation  of  the  event,  the  memory  of  the 

334 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

event  will  be  strongly  coloured  by  the  prejudice.  These 
gaps  are  found  in  every  one's  memory,  and  the  insertions, 
transpositions,  and  misinterpretations  occur  in  from  fifteen 
to  twenty-five  per  cent  of  all  cases  studied,  the  numbers 
varying  according  to  the  subject  and  the  class  of  material 
under  investigation ;  but  no  one  can  say  a  priori  what  classes 
of  errors  a  given  subject  will  commit. 

It  was  also  found  the  mistakes  were  just  as  definite  in 
the  subject's  mind  as  the  correct  images,  and  that  he  would 
answer  questions  about  these  mistaken  ideas  with  much  de- 
tail, especially  if  the  questions  were  suggestive. 

And,  finally,  the  memory  of  one  part  of  a  testimony  may 
be  correct,  and  the  rest  incorrect,  and  it  is  entirely  impos- 
sible to  reason  out  which  parts  are  likely  to  be  true  and 
which  not. 

If  we  admit  the  validity  of  these  studies — and  one  can 
scarcely  question  it  after  reading  the  experiments — the  claim 
of  the  Psychical  Researchers  that  they  have  been  accumu- 
lating "  scientific  "  evidence  becomes  an  absurdity.  In  the 
first  place,  in  no  single  recorded  instance  has  any  study 
been  made  of  the  memory  type  of  any  of  these  persons  who 
have  had  veridical  dreams,  death  warnings,  telepathic  mes- 
sages, etc.  It  is  probable  that  these  subjects  if  examined 
would  show  some  of  the  less  common  tendencies  to  error, 
and  it  is  certain  that  they  would  have  large  gaps  in  any 
memory  test  to  which  they  should  be  subjected,  even  if 
they  had  the  chance  to  write  out  their  account  within  an 
hour  after  the  event.  It  is  certain  from  the  accounts  given 
by  the  subjects  that  many  of  them  believe  in  telepathy,  etc., 
and  therefore  have  a  prejudice  in  favour  of  interpreting 
events  conformably  to  their  belief,  which  must  warp  their 
memory  in  that  direction.  It  is  probable  from  other  ac- 
counts that  some  of  them  are  suggestible,  so  that  subsequent 
events  and  the  questions  of  the  one  who  is  collecting  the 
facts  for  the  Society  would  warp  their  memory.  We  have 
no  records  of  the  interviews  between  the  subjects  and  the 

335 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

collectors,  and  so  are  entirely  ignorant  how  far  the  col- 
lector 's  zeal  may  have  influenced  his  questions  and  the  sub- 
ject's  answers. 

But  most  invalidating  of  all  is  the  lapse  of  time  that  has 
occurred  in  most  cases  between  the  event  and  the  writing 
of  it  down.  Even  in  Mr.  Podmore's  more  recent  book, 
' '  Naturalisation  of  the  Supernatural, ' '  he  accepts  all  cases 
written  out  within  ten  years  of  the  occurrence  of  the  event, 
and  in  the  earlier  collections  accounts  written  even  forty  or 
fifty  years  after  the  event  are  accepted.  Surely  in  the  light 
of  the  above  studies  of  memory  it  is  the  funniest  sort  of 
farce  to  maintain  that  memories  going  back  ten  years,  im- 
supported  by  a  shred  of  written  contemporary  evidence, 
can  be  considered  proof  of  telepathy,  especially  since  in 
most  cases  only  one  or  two  persons  remember  anything 
about  the  warning  or  death  apparition,  and  so  we  lose  the 
strong  advantage  gained  from  converging  testimonies. 
Strictly  speaking,  no  such  memories  can  have  any  value 
unless  written  out  within  at  least  a  week  after  the  pre- 
monition, before  the  subject  knows  of  the  coincidence  with 
fact,  and  before  she  has  talked  it  over  with  others  and  so 
has  been  influenced  by  their  encouragement,  doubt,  or 
questions. 

But  if  we  apply  this  time  limit  to  the  cases  of  telepathy 
of  all  sorts  which  the  Researchers  themselves  have  accepted 
(appearing  in  the  Census  of  Hallucinations,  Phantasms  of 
the  Living,  Proceedings  of  the  Society,  and  Podmore's 
two  books,  "  Studies  in  Psychical  Research  "  and  "  Natu- 
ralisation of  the  Supernatural"),  we  find  in  all  but  34 
cases  in  which  the  supposed  message  corresponded  to  a 
fact/ 

1  Cases  have  not  been  cited  from  the  Journal  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  because  (1)  it  expressly  states  that  its  contents 
are  not  for  general  publication,  and  (2)  because  the  cases  which 
prove  valid  after  more  thorough  investigation  are  printed  usually 
in  the  Proceedings. 

336 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

These  cases  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  Committee  on  Hallucinations  {Proceedings  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  x)  reports  an  ex- 
perience of  Miss  Maughan  with  a  friend,  Miss  Gatty.  Miss 
Gatty  woke  up  one  morning  about  four  to  see  Miss 
Maughan  standing  in  front  of  her  in  so  unbalanced  a  po- 
sition that  she  at  once  jumped  out  of  bed  to  save  her  from 
falling.  As  she  touched  the  apparition  it  vanished.  The 
next  day  she  wrote  Miss  Maughan  a  letter  about  it,  and 
found  that  Miss  IMaughan  had  been  lying  awake  at  that 
time  thinking  intently  of  her. 

2.  In  Phantasms  of  the  Living  (vol.  i,  p.  89  et  seq.)  we 
have  various  cases  given.  Miss  Hervey  saw  a  vision  of  a 
cousin  going  up  the  stairs  and  made  a  note  of  it  in  her 
diary,  which  Mr.  Podmore  saw.  About  thirty  hours  later 
the  cousin  died. 

3.  Miss  Caldecott  saw  a  faint  glow  of  light  in  a  corner, 
which  became  a  friend  then  in  Scotland,  holding  out  her 
hands  in  appeal.  The  next  day  she  wrote  to  this  friend, 
and  soon  received  an  answer  saying  that  at  just  that  time 
she  had  been  longing  to  see  her. 

4.  Rev.  John  Drake  one  morning  went  to  a  friend  and 
told  him  his  daughter  had  arrived  safely  in  port,  for  he 
had  seen  it  in  a  vision.  The  friend  was  incredulous,  be- 
cause it  was  two  weeks  before  the  boat  was  due,  but  made 
a  note  of  it  in  his  memorandum  book^  and  later  found 
that  the  boat  really  had  come  in  on  that  date. 

5.  A  Mr.  Carslake  one  day  believed  that  he  saw  his 
Uncle  John  cross  the  road  in  front  of  him  and  turn  into 
a  lane.  He  at  once  made  a  memorandum  of  it,  querying 
whether  it  did  not  indicate  the  uncle's  death,  as  he  had 
long  been  ill,  and  later  he  found  that  the  death  had  oc- 
curred about  this  time. 

When  Mr.  Gurney  obtained  this  story  it  was  sixty-nine 
years  old,  and  the  original  memorandum  had  been  lost,  but 
what  was  believed  to  be  an  exact  copy  of  it  was  in  existence. 

337 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

But  the  case  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  nephew  had 
been  expecting  the  death. 

6.  Mrs.  Barber  went  shopping,  and  at  dinner  thought 
of  an  incident  she  wished  to  tell  her  two-year-old  daughter. 
Something  prevented  her  telling  it  just  then,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  child  told  it  to  her.  Mrs.  Barber  is  confident 
that  no  one  else  knew  the  incident,  and  that  she  had  not 
already  told  it.  She  wrote  out  the  experience  five  days 
later. 

7.  A  lady,  Avhen  asked  by  her  husband  what  she  was 
thinking  of,  said  that  she  felt  as  if  two  friends  of  theirs 
had  just  been  married,  but  she  did  not  believe  it  was  so 
because  she  thought  they  would  not  marry  in  Lent.  The 
husband  then  felt  the  same  way,  and  later  they  found  that 
the  marriage  had  taken  place.  Two  ladies  corroborate  the 
account,  which  was  written  out  four  days  later. 

8.  Mrs.  Gates  constantly  has  premonitions.  One  after- 
noon she  felt  that  something  was  happening  to  her  son, 
and  later  found  that  he  had  been  attacked  by  an  insane 
patient.  The  account  was  written  within  a  week,  and  cor- 
roborated by  one  person. 

9.  Mr.  Jukes  on  waking  one  morning  recognised  the 
voice  of  an  old  school-fellow  saying  to  him,  ' '  Your  brother 
Mark  and  Harriet  are  both  gone."  As  far  as  Mr.  Jukes 
knew  both  were  well,  but  he  wrote  the  words  on  a  scrap  of 
paper  and  later  copied  them  into  his  diary,  which  Mr. 
Gurney  saw.  Later  he  received  word  that  his  brother  had 
died  one  day  after,  and  his  sister  three  days  after,  the  warn- 
ing, of  cholera. 

10.  While  dressing  one  morning  Mrs.  Gladstone  went  to 
a  cupboard  and  took  out  a  piece  of  serge  to  see  whether  it 
would  do  for  a  curtain  for  a  sick  woman.  When  she  vis- 
ited the  woman  the  next  day,  her  husband  told  Mrs.  Glad- 
stone that  the  day  before  his  wife  had  seen  her  holding 
up  a  curtain  in  both  hands,  saying  it  was  not  long  enough. 
This  was  recorded  the  same  day. 

338 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

11.  Mr.  Haydn  noted  this  in  his  diary :  ' '  Just  after 
going  to  bed,  while  I  was  reading,  I  heard  steps  outside  and 
in  the  passage  as  of  a  female  walking  aimlessly.  Thinking 
it  might  be  Louey,  I  called,  but  there  was  no  answer.  Im- 
mediately after  the  sounds  ceased  the  clock  struck  eleven." 

Later  he  foulid  that  a  friend,  dying  in  delirium,  had  at 
about  that  time  raved  of  being  in  his  house  talking  to  him. 

This  shows  the  possibilities  of  error.  Mr.  Haydn  did 
not  get  up  to  see  that  there  really  was  no  one  in  the  hall, 
and  many  noises  sound  like  irregular  footsteps  in  a  quiet 
house. 

12.  Mr.  Grand  records  in  his  diary  that  the  previous 
night  he  woke  up  with  the  feeling  of  a  presence  which  he 
could  not  see,  but  which  told  him  that  it  had  to  do  with  a 
friend  named  Bruce.  He  thought  Bruce 's  father  was  dead, 
but  it  turned  out  to  be  Bruce 's  brother. 

In  his  "  Naturalisation  of  the  Supernatural,"  Mr. 
Podmore  gives  the  following  cases  which  come  within  our 
time  limit  of  one  week : 

13.  Dr.  Wiltse  carried  on  various  experiments  in  1891 
along  this  line,  with  the  following  as  an  experiment  at  a 
distance.  He  agreed  with  Mr.  Reseco  that  after  both  had 
gone  to  bed,  at  9.55,  he  should  attempt  to  produce  a  certain 
image  in  Mr.  Reseco 's  mind.  So  he  thought  of  an  African 
jungle  at  night  with  a  hunter's  tent  in  front,  a  tiger's  eyes 
glaring  out,  and  an  ill-defined  form  in  the  background. 
Mr.  Reseco  saw  a  large  mass  of  bushes,  apparently  rose- 
bushes, with  two  balls  of  fire  in  the  midst  of  them,  behind 
which  appeared  an  indistinct  bulk. 

We  are  not  told  whether  each  wrote  out  his  account 
before  seeing  the  other,  for  though  it  is  said  that  the  next 
morning  they  exchanged  notes,  the  phrase  may  mean  only 
that  they  compared  impressions.  But  supposing  that  the 
exchange  of  notes  was  literal,  the  coincidence,  while  inter- 
esting, is  explicable  otherwise.  The  characteristic  thing, 
the  balls  of  fire,  may  have  been  simply  the  incorporation  of 

339 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISIM 

phosphemes,  which  are  especially  noticeable  in  darkness, 
into  a  vague  landscape.  As  Professor  Ladd  has  well  shown, 
retinal  impressions  are  very  often  the  sensory  groundwork 
of  images,  and  any  one  who  has  taken  the  trouble  to  watch 
them  with  his  eyes  closed  must  realise  their  great  sugges- 
tiveness  of  ideas  of  all  sorts. 

In  the  various  other  experiments  in  transferring  thought 
at  a  distance,  none  of  which  are  reported  later  than  1895, 
there  is  no  attempt  whatever  to  nullify  the  effect  of  natural 
associations,  or  of  community  of  thought  between  agent  and 
percipient,  and  in  all  the  instances  recorded  the  two  par- 
ticipants seem  to  have  been  friends,  so  that  Vaschide's  re- 
marks on  this  subject  are  applicable  to  them.  It  is  very 
curious  that  Mr.  Podmore,  writing  in  1907  on  these  ex- 
periments, makes  no  references  anywhere  to  the  effects  of 
various  mental  habits. 

14.  In  Phantasms  of  the  Living  we  get  similar  experi- 
ments, such  as  Gibert's  and  Janet's  experiments  with 
Madam  B.  Madam  B.  in  the  hypnotic  state  was  unusually 
suggestible ;  so  much  so  that  the  two  operators  became  con- 
vinced of  telepathic  power.  On  three  recorded  occasions 
Gibert,  while  Madam  B.  was  hypnotised,  gave  a  mental  or- 
der, putting  his  face  close  to  hers  but  saying  nothing.  The 
order  was  then  written  out  on  a  piece  of  paper,  which  was 
kept  usually  by  Janet.  On  the  one  successful  occasion  she 
was  ordered,  the  next  day  at  noon,  to  lock  the  doors  of  the 
house,  and  she  did  so,  giving  as  a  reason  that  she  did  not 
want  the  physicians  to  come  in  to  hypnotise  her.  Myers 
also  records  further  experiments  with  her  in  hypnotising 
her  at  a  distance.  On  three  occasions  recorded  he  was  suc- 
cessful in  doing  this,  at  times  w^hen  she  would  not  naturally 
be  expecting  it,  and  on  one  he  brought  her  to  his  house. 

15.  Hericourt,  in  1878,  had  similar  successes  with 
Madam  D.,  which  he  reported  to  Richet. 

Podmore  gives  further  cases  also : 

16.  Writing  the  next  day.  Professor  Blank  records  that 

340 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

on  the  previous  evening,  while  at  work  in  his  library,  he 
suddenly  had  the  impression  that  there  was  a  fire  at  the 
Opera,  where  his  wife  and  daughter  then  were,  but  that 
it  was  nothing  serious.  This  was  about  10.30.  When  they 
returned  at  twelve,  they  told  him  that  about  8.45  there 
had  been  an  alarm  of  fire,  but  it  amounted  to  little.  The 
Profassor's  sister  also  had  the  same  impression. 

17.  Mr.  Young,  on  arising  from  supper  one  evening, 
had  a  presentiment,  and  exclaimed,  ' '  There !  I  have  just 
had  an  intimation  that  Robert  is  dead. ' '  He  was  called  to 
a  customer,  but  was  so  impressed  that  he  first  wrote  out 
the  matter  in  his  diary,  but,  unfortunately,  not  on  the  dated 
leaves,  but  at  the  back,  undated.  His  account  itself  was 
w'ritten  two  weeks  after  the  event.  Two  days  later  he  re- 
ceived word  that  his  brother-in-law,  who  had  been  bed- 
ridden for  two  years,  had  died  at  7.45  that  evening. 

18.  Mrs.  D.,  while  holding  a  photograph  of  a  friend 
and  describing  her  to  some  one  present,  suddenly  felt  im- 
pelled to  tell  what  she  was  doing  at  that  instant,  the  dress 
she  had  on,  the  furniture  of  her  sitting  room,  etc.  She 
wrote  out  the  account  the  same  afternoon,  and  also  wrote 
about  it  to  the  friend. 

19.  Mr.  H.  B.  dreamed  one  night  that  he  saw  his  fiancee 
with  one  side  of  her  face  much  swollen.  He  wakened,  and 
on  going  to  sleep  again  saw  her  face  floating  in  smoke. 
The  dreams  depressed  him  and  he  wrote  to  her  about  them, 
to  find  that  she  had  gone  out  to  see  a  fire  that  night,  had 
caught  cold,  and  had  toothache  and  a  swollen  face  as  a 
result. 

Her  letter  in  response  to  him  was  written  about  a  week 
after  the  event,  and  his  own  account  about  two  months  after. 

20.  Miss  C.  Clarkson,  while  out  boating  with  a  party 
of  friends,  fell  into  the  water,  and  while  being  pulled  in 
by  two  gentlemen  told  them  not  to  pull  so  hard,  for  they 
hurt  her,  to  which  they  answered  that  they  must  pull  if 
they  were  to  get  her  in.    On  that  night  her  stepmother  had 

341 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

a  dream  that  Miss  Clarkson's  sister  was  drowning,  and  she 
pulled  her  out  by  the  hair,  the  sister  saying  that  she  hurt 
her,  and  the  stepmother  answering  that  she  had  better  be 
hurt  than  drown. 

Miss  Clarkson's  account  was  written  only  three  days 
after  the  event,  and  the  stepmother's  eight  days.  The  step- 
mother also  told  her  dream  to  the  sister  before  hearing  of 
the  accident. 

21.  Mrs.  Mann  one  night  dreamed  of  an  old  friend, 
who  appeared  greatly  altered.  The  next  morning  she  told 
her  husband  about  it,  and  later  found  that  he  had  died 
the  day  after  her  dream.  The  account  was  written  three 
weeks  later,  and  her  husband  noted  in  his  diary  at  the 
time  the  dream. 

22.  Mr.  Brierly,  writing  about  a  week  after,  tells  that 
he  dreamed  one  night  of  the  death  of  Lohmann,  a  cele- 
brated cricketer,  and  found  the  next  day  that  the  death 
had  occurred.  It  is  not  noted  that  he  knew  him,  and  we 
infer  from  the  narrative  that  he  did  not.  His  wife  testi- 
fies that  he  told  her  about  the  dream  at  breakfast,  and  be- 
fore they  heard  of  the  death. 

23.  Mrs.  Knight  had  a  nurse  between  whom  and  her- 
self there  existed  a  peculiarly  strong  affection.  This  nurse 
had  told  her  that  dreaming  of  insects  on  the  face  and  neck 
was  a  certain  sign  of  death,  but  Mrs.  Knight  had  never 
believed  it.  One  night  she  awoke  with  the  feeling  of  being 
rocked,  then  she  saw  a  light,  and  then  felt  a  presence  hov- 
ering over  her.  She  felt  that  some  one  was  dying  and,  on 
wondering  who,  heard  a  loud  rap.  She  got  out  of  bed 
and  looked  at  her  watch,  knelt  down  to  pray,  and  after 
getting  back  into  bed  saw  flashes  of  gold  in  a  silver  light. 
Two  hours  later  she  woke  up  with  the  feeling  of  insects 
on  her  forehead  and  neck,  and  thought  of  her  old  nurse's 
saying.  The  next  morning  she  learned  that  the  nurse  had 
died  at  almost  exactly  the  time  she  looked  at  her  watch, 

A  few  days  later  she  wrote  out  the  account  in  her  diary. 

342 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

At  the  time  of  the  hallucinations  she  did  not  think  of  the 
nurse  as  the  one  dying. 

2-4.  Mr.  Godfrey,  the  day  after  his  experience,  wrote 
Mr,  Podmore  an  account  of  it.  At  10.45  one  night  he  en- 
deavoured to  make  himself  appear  to  a  friend  at  the  foot 
of  her  bed.  He  soon  fell  asleep,  but  awakened  about  3.30 
from  a  dream  in  which  he  had  asked  the  lady  if  she  had 
seen  him  the  night  before,  and  she  had  replied  that  she 
had  seen  him  sitting  beside  her.  The  lady  on  her  side  also 
noted  the  next  day  that  about  3.30  she  had  wakened  with 
the  feeling  of  some  one  being  in  the  room,  that  she  had 
been  restless  and  gone  down-stairs  after  some  soda  water, 
and  on  coming  up  had  seen  Mr.  Godfrey  standing  under 
the  window  on  the  staircase.  She  held  up  her  candle  and 
stared  at  him  in  amazement,  and  as  she  went  up  the  stair- 
case he  disappeared.  She  was  not  frightened,  but  did  not 
sleep  afterward.  Mrs. has  seen  before  this  two  phan- 
tasms, and  on  two  other  occasions  Mr.  Godfrey  experi- 
mented with  her,  once  unsuccessfully  and  once  successfully. 
In  no  case  did  she  know  beforehand  of  the  experiment. 

25.  June  17,  1894,  at  12  p.m.,  Miss  Danvers  made  this 
note:  "  I  write  this  just  before  trying  to  appear  to  Mrs. 
Fleetwood.  My  hair  is  down  and  I  am  going  to  lie  down 
and  try  to  appear  with  my  eyes  closed. ' ' 

Mrs.  Fleetwood  notes:  "  Sunday  night,  June  17,  1894, 
I  woke  from  my  first  sleep  to  see  Edith  Danvers  appar- 
ently kneeling  on  an  easy  chair  by  my  bedside,  her  profile 
turned  toward  me,  her  hair  flowing,   and  eyes  closed  or 

looking  quite  down After  I  was  fully  awake  and  able 

to  reason  with  myself,  the  figure  still  remained,  and  then 
gradually  faded,  like  a  dissolving  view.  I  got  up  and 
looked  at  the  clock.  It  was  just  twelve.  I  was  alone  in  the 
room.  As  I  now  write,  it  is  about  two  minutes  after 
twelve. ' ' 

The  next  day  these  memoranda  and  a  letter  were  sent 
to  Mr.  !Myers. 

343 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

26.  Miss  H.,  on  waking  up  one  morning  and  sitting  up 
to  get  something  from  her  table,  saw  Mrs.  J.  W. 's  face  in 
two  places  nearly  or  quite  at  once.  She  noted  the  time  and 
intended  to  write  out  the  vision  in  the  morning,  but  forgot 
it  until  she  heard  two  days  later  that  that  night  J.  W.  had 
died,  and  that  at  about  the  time  she  saw  Mrs.  J.  W.  's  face, 
Mrs.  J.  W.  and  her  daughter-in-law  were  talking  about  her 
kindness  to  them.     She  then  wrote  out  the  account. 

This  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  defects  in  all  tes- 
timony in  which  the  vision  is  not  written  out  prior  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  death.  What  proof  is  there  that  this  is 
not  an  illusory  memory,  especially  if,  as  seems  to  be  the 
case,  Miss  R.  is  given  to  vivid  images  and  feelings  of  pre- 
monition? Such  a  case,  instead  of  making  us  believe  that 
telepathic  communications  are  far  more  common  than  is 
generally  supposed,  convince  us  that  illusions  of  memory 
even  within  a  few  days  of  the  event  may  be  so  common  as 
to  invalidate  every  case  except  those  in  which  the  halluci- 
nation is  written  out  in  detail  at  the  time,  and  before  the 
corresponding  event  is  known. 

27.  Mr.  Grant,  while  in  Brazil,  one  night  had  an  im- 
pression of  death,  and  connected  it  with  Lord  Z.'s  family. 
Lord  Z.  himself  died  that  day.  A  month  later,  no  word 
having  been  heard  meantime  of  the  death,  the  impression 
was  renewed,  and  the  next  morning  Mr.  Grant  wrote  at 
length  in  his  diary  his  uneasiness  during  the  night,  seeing 
the  face  of  Lord  Z.,  wanting  to  draw  him  with  his  head 
sunk  on  his  chest  as  if  asleep,  feeling  pity  for  the  rest  of 
the  family,  etc.,  but  not  for  him.  The  day  after  this  he 
heard  of  the  death. 

28.  Miss  Lilian  Whiting,  writing  four  days  later,  says 
that  IMiss  Kate  Field,  then  dead,  wakened  her  one  night, 
speaking  about  a  letter  that  Lowell  had  written  her.  Miss 
Whiting  was  then  writing  a  biography  of  Miss  Field.  The 
vision  continued  the  excited  talking  in  spite  of  Miss  Whit- 
ing's soothing  remarks,  and  so  Miss  Whiting  got  up,  turned 

344 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

on  the  light,  and  looked  through  the  book  mentioned  by 
the  vision,  finding  there  an  important  letter  from  Lowell, 
which  would  cei'tainly  have  been  omitted  from  the  biog- 
raphy had  it  not  been  for  the  vision. 

Mr.  Podmore  thinks  that  this  is  probably  simply  a  ease 
of  emergence  from  the  subconscious  of  forgotten  knowledge, 
which  clothed  itself  in  dramatic  form. 

29.  Mr.  Conley,  a  farmer,  was  found  dead  one  day, 
while  away  from  home,  and  the  clothes  that  he  had  on 
when  found  were  thrown  away.  On  hearing  of  the  death 
his  daughter  fell  into  a  swoon,  and  when  she  awoke  from 
it  she  said  that  her  father  had  appeared  to  her  and  told 
her  that  after  leaving  home  he  had  sewed  a  large  bundle 
of  bills  into  his  gray  shirt,  with  a  piece  of  her  red  dress, 
and  that  they  were  still  there.  She  wanted  them  to  get 
the  clothes  he  had  on  when  found,  and  described  accurately 
the  clothes  in  which  he  was  buried,  though  none  of  the  fam- 
ily had  seen  them.  She  then  fell  into  another  swoon,  and, 
on  recovering,  again  urged  that  some  one  go  to  Dubuque 
after  the  clothes,  and  as  she  w^as  near  death  and  the  phy- 
sician thought  it  might  relieve  her  mind  to  have  them,  her 
brother  went  after  them,  though  not  believing  at  all  in  her 
vision.  But  the  bills  were  found  as  she  had  described,  and 
the  coroner  said  that  the  clothes  in  which  the  father  was 
buried  were  as  described.  The  account  was  written  within 
two  weeks  after  the  event,  with  corroboration  from  the 
various  officials. 

30.  Mile.  Stramm,  while  writing  automatically,  wrote 
that  August  Duvanel  was  dead  from  a  clot  of  blood.  He 
had  been  her  suitor,  but  she  had  not  heard  of  him  for  five 
years.  This  writing  was  given  to  Professor  Aksakoff,  and 
he  made  a  note  of  the  occurrence  at  the  time.  Later  it  was 
found  that  M.  Duvanel  had  committed  suicide  about  five 
hours  before  Mile.  Stramm  received  her  message. 

31.  For  clairvoyance  close  at  hand  Podmore  thinks 
there  is  no  evidence,  some  sort  of  trickery  or  hypertesthesia 

25  345 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

explaining  all  such  eases.  But  for  travelling  clairvoyance 
there  is  more  evidence.  He  gives,  however,  no  cases  which 
were  written  out  within  a  year  after  the  event.  As  to  pre- 
vision, Mrs.  Verrall  furnishes  one  case.  On  lying  down 
she  heard  a  curious  ticking,  which  she  associates  with  dis- 
aster, and  at  once  mailed  a  note  to  Mr.  Myers  telling  of  it. 
The  next  day,  her  sister,  on  landing  from  a  steamer,  stepped 
off  the  rail,  and  though  rescued  without  injury  was  in  great 
danger  for  a  few  minutes.  On  three  other  occasions,  when 
the  incident  is  not  given,  Mrs.  Verrall 's  ticking  has  warned 
of  disaster. 

32.  Mr.  Glardon's  aunt  predicted  that  she  would  die 
within  six  weeks,  and  Mr.  Glardon  sent  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  a  note  of  the  prediction  with  the  time 
of  expiration.  She  died  the  day  hefore  the  limit  of  time. 
In  such  cases  Podmore  thinks  the  prophecy,  usually  given 
in  trance  or  dream,  feels  the  latent  disease,  and  works 
itself  out, 

33.  Early  one  morning  Mr.  Lane,  an  actor,  saw  the 
death  scene  of  the  fellow-actor  whose  understudy  he  was. 
That  night  this  actor  was  stabbed,  and  his  death  occurred 
as  Mr.  Lane  had  dreamed  it.  Mr.  Lane's  account  was 
obtained  four  days  later,  and  also  the  testimony  of  two 
other  members  of  the  company  that  Mr.  Lane  had  told 
them  of  his  dream  before  the  death. 

34.  Mrs.  Carleton  dreamed  that  a  friend.  Colonel  Cog- 
hill,  had  fallen  under  a  horse,  and  wrote  him  to  that  effect, 
her  first  letter  for  about  a  year.  He  answered  saying  that 
it  must  have  been  one  of  the  dreams  that  go  by  contraries, 
for  he  never  had  felt  better,  but  that  afternoon  he  had  a 
fall  of  the  character  described.  His  account  was  written 
within  a  month,  and  his  answer  to  Mrs.  Carleton 's  letter 
is  given,  with  corroboration  from  his  brother.  Mrs.  Carle- 
ton frequently  has  previsions  of  illness,  even  if  trivial. 

All  in  all,  Podmore 's  position  is  not  essentially  differ- 
ent from  what  it  has  been  since  the  beginning.     He  be- 

346 


TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA 

lieves  in  telepathy,  and  argues  from  it  as  a  true  cause  on 
all  necessary  occasions.  He  is  in  no  way  convinced  of  Spir- 
itism, and  shows  up  the  frauds  of  physical  phenomena  and 
the  weak  spots  in  psychical  evidence,  although  endeavour- 
ing to  hold  his  judgment  in  suspense. 

Both  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living  and  Mr.  Podmore's 
book  already  quoted  from,  some  illustrations  are  given  of 
cases  of  reciprocal  telepathy,  that  is,  cases  in  which  both 
the  persons  concerned  get  a  message. 

They  give  no  cases,  however,  where  the  account  was 
written  out  in  less  than  six  weeks,  and  so  we  will  not  quote 
any,  especially  as  Mr.  Podmore  concludes  his  chapter  on 
this  subject  by  quoting  Mr.  Gurney's  remarks,  made  in 
1886,  that  the  evidence  for  such  occurrences  was  then  so 
"  small  that  the  genuineness  of  the  type  might  fairly  be 
called  in  question,"  and  adds  that  "  the  twenty -two  years 
which  have  elapsed  cannot  be  said  to  have  added  material 
confirmation." 


CHAPTER    XXI 

TELEPATHY    AND    ALLIED    PHENOMENA:   A    CENSUS    OF 
HALLUCINATIONS 

In  1889  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  began  to 
collect  reports  on  hallucinations  in  answer  to  the  following 
question :  Have  you  ever,  when  believing  yourself  to  be 
completely  awake,  had  a  vivid  impression  of  seeing  or  being 
touched  by  a  living  being  or  inanimate  object,  or  of  hear- 
ing a  voice,  which  impression,  so  far  as  you  could  discover, 
was  not  due  to  any  external  physical  cause? 

The  collecting  of  reports  extended  over  several  years, 
and  was  concluded  ^  when  17,000  had  come  in,  the  numbers 
of  men  and  women  being  approximately  equal.  The  col- 
lectors were  410  in  number — 223  women  and  187  men. 
More  than  a  quarter  of  them  were  friends  of  the  Committee, 
and  some  were  friends  of  these  friends.  One-third  were 
members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  and  one- 
sixth  friends  of  theirs. 

The  people  reporting  were  principally  from  the  profes- 
sional class,  though  some  were  from  the  lower. 

Out  of  the  17,000  answers,  15,316  answered  no,  and 
1,684,  or  9.9  per  cent,  yes.  Of  the  no  answers  7,717  were 
men  and  7,599  were  women ;  of  the  yes,  655,  or  7.8  per  cent, 
were  men  and  1,029,  or  twelve  per  cent,  were  women. 

In  discussing  the  trustworthiness  of  these  reports  as 
representative  there  are  two  sources  of  error,  viz.,  that  the 
persons  are  a  selected  class  among  whom  hallucinations  are 
more  common  than  among  the  general  population,  and  that 

1  See  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  x. 

348 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

forgetfnlness  of  such  experiences  greatly  lowers  the  per 
cent.  As  to  the  first,  the  Committee  asked  the  collectors 
to  mark  cases  where  they  knew  beforehand  that  there  had 
been  a  halhicination,  and  also  to  report  on  their  own  ten- 
dency. The}^  acknowledge  that  there  is  reason  in  some  cases 
to  suspect  selection,  but  believe  it  counterbalanced  on  the 
whole  by  other  things,  especially  by  their  request  that  each 
collector  shall  get  twenty-five  answers,  this  being  a  large 
enough  number,  so  that  he  would  be  glad  to  get  any  one 
to  help  him  out. 

Forgetfnlness,  of  course,  cannot  be  remedied,  but  they 
make  elaborate  calculations  based  on  the  frequency  of  hal- 
lucinations in  the  recent  years,  and  conclude  that  the  num- 
ber of  real  hallucinations  is  probably  from  four  to  six  and 
one-half  times  larger  than  reported.  They  do  not,  how- 
ever, base  their  report  on  this  estimate,  but  on  the  actual 
number  reported. 

They  go  into  great  detail  on  the  character  of  the  hal- 
lucinations, whether  visual,  auditory,  etc.,  giving  many  data 
which  ought  to  be  very  valuable  to  psychologists,  but  which 
we  shall  ignore  at  this  point,  our  interest  here  being  solely 
in  the  Committee's  claim  to  have  established  as  a  fact  that 
veridical  hallucinations  are  not  due  to  chance. 

We  will  only  mention  here  certain  facts  bearing  on  the 
matter,  as  follows:  Out  of  1,112  visual  apparitions,  830  rep- 
resented human  beings,  and  more  than  two-fifths  of  this 
830  are  known  to  the  percipient.  Of  those  known,  forty- 
five  per  cent  are  of  persons  often  seen,  and  twenty  per  cent 
more  are  near  relatives.  Positions  and  movements  impos- 
sible to  actual  people  are  rarely  found.  Also,  thirty-four 
per  cent  of  those  having  hallucinations  have  had  more 
than  one. 

So  far  we  seem  to  be  describing  simply  the  normal 
workings  of  a  vivid  imagination. 

Now  as  to  the  conditions  under  which  these  are  seen. 
On  the  whole,  the  percipients  appear  to  be  in  at  least  fair 

349 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

health,  though  in  a  few  cases  probably  some  eye  trouble 
may  have  affected  the  hallucination,  and  in  a  few  excessive 
nervousness.  In  40  cases  there  was  probably  overstrain 
of  some  sort,  and  in  220  some  sort  of  emotional  disturb- 
ance. Over  one-third  of  the  hallucinations  occurred  when 
the  person  was  still  in  bed,  or  just  after  a  sleep,  and 
sixty-two  per  cent  of  the  visual,  when  the  percipient  was 
alone.  In  14  cases  the  percipient  was  expecting  to  see  the 
person. 

So  much  for  the  general  conditions.  Coming  now  to 
death  coincidences,  which  give  the  chief  evidence  for  telep- 
athy, the  Committee  defines  a  death  coincidence  as  one  in 
which  the  hallucination  is  seen  within  twelve  hours  before 
or  after  the  death.  It  takes  this  limit  arbitrarily.  After 
analysing  and  sifting  the  evidence,  such  coincidences  are 
found  to  be  in  number  62,  but  to  allow  for  further  eviden- 
tial defects,  20  more  are  taken  out;  to  allow  for  chance 
coincidences,  8 ;  and  for  two  suspicious  cases,  2  more,  leav- 
ing in  all  30  cases  which  they  consider  thoroughly  well 
proved.  Now  this  is  a  much  larger  number,  they  main- 
tain, than  could  be  obtained  by  chance.  After  dropping 
some  doubtful  yes  answers,  they  have  1,300  left,  and  the 
ratio  of  30  to  1,300  is  about  1 :  43.  But,  they  say,  if  chance 
alone  were  at  work  here  the  number  of  veridical  death 
apparitions  would  be  the  same  as  the  probability  that  any 
given  person  will  die  on  a  given  day,  which  is  the  same  as 
the  annual  death  rate,  or,,  in  England  for  the  decade  1880 
to  1890,  1  in  19,000.  That  is,  out  of  every  19,000  people 
who  have  hallucinations,  1  would  be  a  death  coincidence,  if 
chance  alone  operated.  But  we  have  in  this  Census  30 
death  coincidences  in  1,300  cases,  which  is  440  times  as 
many  as  we  should  expect.  In  fact,  we  ought  not  to  ex- 
pect even  1  death  coincidence  in  only  1,300  cases,  and  so 
any  argument  against  a  causal  relation  must  dispose  of 
every  single  case,  for  even  one  or  two  is  more  than  chance 
would  allow. 

350 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

The  arguments  which  may  be  brought  against  these 
cases,  say  the  Committee,  are  either  that  (1)  there  has 
been  much  deception  in  the  reports;  (2)  that  they  are  a 
very  carefully  selected  lot,  not  really  representative;  (3) 
that  even  if  they  are  true,  they  are  not  due  to  telepathy 
but  to  normal  conditions,  such  as  expectation.  As  to  the 
first,  the  testimony  given  in  each  case  will  answer  this 
argument,  and  this  they  consider  when  taking  up  each 
case  in  detail.  As  to  the  second,  the  Committee  states 
that  in  26  of  the  cases  the  collectors  did  not  know  that 
there  had  been  any  experience,  and  this  disposes  of  chance 
coincidence  even  if  we  throw  out  all  the  other  cases,  but  it 
does  not  entirely  dispose  of  the  argument  that  all  the 
hallucinations  may  come  from  a  class  especially  subject  to 
them. 

As  to  the  influence  of  expectation,  etc.,  in  8  out  of  the 
30  cases  the  illness  was  known  to  be  serious,  and  in  2  others 
the  percipient  was  troubled  over  it,  but  even  if  these  10 
cases  are  omitted  we  have  20  left,  many  more  than  chance 
would  explain. 

Let  us  now  consider  in  detail  the  30  eases  on  which  the 
Committee  bases  its  arguments.  (These  are  given  in  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vol.  x,  pp. 
207-44.) 

As  the  Committee  well  says,  the  best  sort  of  evidence  is 
a  note  made  at  the  time  or  a  letter  written  to  a  friend. 
In  6  of  these  30  cases  such  a  note  was  made,  but  in  only 
1  of  them  was  it  preserved  in  the  very  ambiguous  form  of 
these  marks  .<rfV^  y  made  in  a  diary,  the  percipient  her- 
self being  unable  to  tell  w^hat  the  marks  meant,  other  than 
that  they  were  intended  to  recall  this  hallucination.  There 
is,  therefore,  not  one  shred  of  contemporary  documentary 
evidence  that  is  worth  anything. 

Now  as  to  the  lapse  of  tiine  before  the  experience  was 
written  out  and  the  available  testimony  obtained.  In  one 
case  this  was  done  about  seven  months  after  the  event. 

351 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

In  this  ease  a  note  was  taken  at  the  time,  but  was  not  pre- 
served, and  when  the  news  of  the  death  arrived  the  man 
found,  on  comparison,  that  the  apparition  occurred  on  the 
same  day  as  the  death.  The  wife  also  testified  to  the  note 
and  the  comparison.  But  there  was  a  discrepancy  of  four 
days  between  Mr.  A. 's  original  report  and  his  statement 
made  to  I\Ir.  Sidgwick  in  person,  and  why  we  should  trust 
his  later  statement,  which  was  the  one  coincident  with  the 
death,  more  than  the  earlier,  it  is  hard  to  see,  even  though 
the  wife  testifies  to  the  correct  one. 

In  this  case  the  percipient  knew  that  the  aunt  was  not 
well,  but  was  not  especially  alarmed  about  her. 

Of  the  remaining  29  cases,  3  are  written  out  within  five 
years  after  the  event;  5  between  five  and  ten  years  after; 
7  between  eleven  and  fifteen  years  after ;  4  between  sixteen 
and  twenty  years  after ;  4  between  twenty-one  and  twenty- 
five  ;  4  between  twenty-six  and  thirty,  and  1  forty-six  and  1 
fifty-eight  years  after. 

Does  it  not  seem  curious  that  a  Committee  cognisant  of 
Mr.  Davey's  brilliant  demonstration  of  the  transpositions 
and  lapses  of  memory  within  even  one  hour  after  the 
event  should  base  a  supposedly  scientific  argument  for 
telepathy  on  evidence  of  this  sort?  We  need  in  no  respect 
impeach  the  sincerity  of  the  witnesses  or  the  investigators 
in  order  to  assert  that,  merely  on  the  ground  of  the  lapse 
of  time  between  the  event  and  the  record,  these  cases  are 
worth  nothing  whatever.  We  cannot,  of  course,  positively 
disprove  each  individual  case  because  we  lack  the  oppor- 
tunity to  interrogate  the  witnesses,  and  even  if  we  could, 
their  lapses  of  memory  would  not  make  further  testimony 
against  any  more  valuable  than  this  is  for.  We  do  not, 
therefore,  assert  that  these  cases  are  not  genuine.  They 
may  be.  We  only  say  that  the  proof  of  their  genuineness 
is  not  complete. 

In  these  30  cases  we  have  no  contemporary  evidence 
save  some  unintelligible  marks  in  one  account.     We  have 

352 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

but  one  aceoimt  written  within  a  year  of  the  event,  and 
in  this  there  is  a  considerable  discrepancy  between  the 
original  report  and  the  later  discussion,  which  justifies  ils 
in  questioning  the  man's  memory  of  the  event  itself.  If 
the  memory  was  thus  untrustworthy  within  a  year,  why 
should  we  suppose  it  to  be  trustworthy  in  longer  lapses  of 
time  ? 

For  my  own  part — and  I  think  many  students  of 
testimony  and  of  memory  lapses  would  agree  with  me — I 
am  convinced  that  in  the  end  no  testimony  as  to  veridical 
hallucinations  or  any  other  form  of  telepathy  will  stand 
unless  it  is  written  down  by  the  percipient  at  the  time  of 
having  the  experience.  Stern's  experiments  upon  testi- 
mony corroborate  Davey's  earlier  ones  on  memory,  show- 
ing that  even  where  an  account  is  written  out  immediately 
after  the  event  there  are  notable  lacuna  and  errors,  while 
the  later  questioning  only  increases  the  number  of  errors 
because  it  suggests  incorrect  inferences  to  the  percipient. 
According  to  this,  the  questioning  to  which  the  Society 's  in- 
vestigators subjected  those  reporting  hallucinations,  instead 
of  bringing  out  truth,  more  probably  increased  errors,  be- 
cause the  suggestivenss  of  some  questions  and  the  subcon- 
scious tendencies  to  consistency  would  vitiate  the  testimony 
of  the  most  honest  witness. 

Nevertheless,  in  order  to  show  just  how  weak  the  char- 
acter of  the  cases  cited  is,  I  shall  give  in  considerable  de- 
tail all  accounts  written  out  within  a  year  after  the  occur- 
rence, and  show  their  defectiveness  in  other  respects  as 
well. 

If  the  thirty  test  cases  of  veridical  hallucinations  are 
thus  weak,  much  more  so  are  the  others,  wliich  the  Com- 
mittee itself  grants  are  not  sufficiently  evidential  to  be 
cited. 

A  very  strong  case  for  the  objectivity  of  the  hallucina- 
tion's  cause  could  be  made  out  if  only  sufficient  numbers  of 
collective  hallucinations  could  be  secured.    Several  of  these 

353 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

are  given,  but  only  one  is  more  recent  than  two  years,  and, 
strangely  enough,  none  have  any  contemporary  documents. 
The  one  exception  was  described  five  months  after  the 
event  by  Miss  H.  "Wilson.  She  and  her  cousin  were  read- 
ing one  Sunday  evening,  and  an  old  servant  was  sitting  in 
the  same  room  with  them.  Suddenly  the  two  sisters  became 
conscious  that  the  light  was  obscured,  and  one  of  them  saw 
a  thick  substance  pass  between  her  and  the  candles,  the 
other  not  really  seeing  anything  but  the  darkening  of  the 
room.  At  three  the  next  morning  the  brother  of  the  ser- 
vant died. 

Again,  haunted  houses  and  the  traditional  ghost  ought, 
if  genuine,  to  afford  evidence  for  the  existence  after  death. 
The  Committee  found  in  all  thirty  cases  where  the  e\^dence 
was  good  enough  to  afford  some  proof  of  a  supernormal 
origin.  In  fifteen  of  these  the  apparitions  were  not  associ- 
ated with  any  particular  deceased  person;  in  the  other  fif- 
teen the  deceased  was  not  supposed  to  be  known  to  the  per- 
son seeing  the  apparition.  Not  all  of  these  stories  are  given 
in  the  Census,  and  of  those  given  very  few  have  any  con- 
temporary documents  or  were  written  within  a  year  after 
the  occurrence,  though  they  are  splendid  ghost  stories.  In 
one  case,  Fanny  Lewitt,  a  housemaid,  tells  of  a  house  in 
which  she  worked  where  all  the  family  were  so  alarmed  by 
the  ghost  of  a  lady,  who  appeared  in  various  costumes  and 
at  different  rooms,  that  they  moved  out  between  nights  and 
never  went  back.  But  there  is  no  other  evidence  than 
Fanny's  word. 

]\Iiss  E.  L.  T.,  writing  fifteen  months  after  the  first 
event,  tells  of  a  ghost  which  haunted  a  house  where  she  was 
visiting,  during  the  years  1890  and  1891,  which  was  seen 
by  various  members  of  the  family  and  servants.  It  was 
not  identified  with  any  one,  but  seemed  to  wander  about  the 
house,  making  music  now  and  then,  and  then  it  went  away 
as  causelessly  as  it  had  come.  But  why  did  not  some  of  the 
many  people  who  saw  this  gray  man  write  out  accounts  and 

354 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

get  witnesses  to  sign  them  at  the  time  ?  What  an  opportu- 
nity was  lost  here ! 

In  another  case,  a  physician  and  his  wife,  a  married 
daughter  with  five  chiklren  (four  daughters  and  a  son), 
and  a  grown  son,  INIr.  S.,  whose  wife  had  recently  died, 
were  living  together  when  an  apparition,  supposed  to  be 
this  dead  wife,  appeared,  and  was  seen  first  by  two  of  the 
children,  aged  about  ten  and  eleven,  and  a  friend.  At  vari- 
ous times  it  was  seen  by  the  children,  by  servants,  and  oc- 
casionally by  friends.  It  usually  was  near  Mr.  S.'s  bed- 
room, whence  also  came  mysterious  noises,  and  it  stayed 
until  Mr.  S.  married  again  and  left  the  house.  Six  ac- 
counts are  given,  written  by  the  various  people  who  saw 
this  ghost  when  they  were  children,  and  to  the  reader  unac- 
quainted with  the  persons  concerned,  all  of  them  strongly 
suggest  that  Mr.  S.  adopted  this  as  an  easy  way  to  keep  his 
sister's  children  out  of  his  room.  One  writer  says,  "  Con- 
stantly when  hiding  in  his  room  we  thought  we  heard 
sighs  and  groans  that  were  quite  unaccountable.  We  were 
naturally  frightened  at  this,  and  soon  learned  to  avoid  play- 
ing in  his  room."  The  figure  always  came  from  and  dis- 
appeared here,  its  face  was  never  seen,  and  upon  its  return 
terrific  noises  were  heard  inside  which  deterred  any  one 
from  exploring.  Again,  at  first  only  noises  were  heard, 
and  after  a  theory  had  been  formed  as  to  their  cause  the 
apparition  was  seen.  The  young  man  may  at  fii\st  simply 
have  wanted  to  deter  the  children  from  playing  in  his 
room,  and  then,  when  he  saw  their  explanation  of  the 
noises,  a  somewhat  warped  sense  of  humour  may  have  led 
him  to  impersonate  his  wife  and  thereby  still  more  effectu- 
ally keep  them  from  troubling  him.  There  is  no  testimony 
from  him  on  the  matter,  which  itself  is  suspicious,  as  he 
was  the  person  most  concerned. 

Another  curious  case  is  one  described  by  Mr.  G.  S.  (p. 
358).  His  first  experience  had  been  a  year  before,  and  he 
had  written  an  account  at  the  time,  which  had  been  lost. 

355 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

A  year  later  he  wrote  to  one  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  collectors  that  the  same  apparition  had  again  been 
seen  twice  within  nine  days  preceding  his  letter,  first  by  a 
lady  guest  and  then  by  a  housemaid,  both  times  in  different 
rooms.  Mrs.  R.  and  IMartha  gave  descriptions  to  Mr.  S., 
W'hich  convinced  him  that  they  saw  the  same  ghost  as  he 
did,  and  he  thinks  that  Martha  had  not  heard  of  ]\Irs.  R.  's 
experience  before  seeing  the  ghost.  Now  the  sequel  is  that 
nine  months  later  the  daughter-in-law  of  Mrs.  R. 's  hostess 
came  from  Australia,  and  at  a  dinner,  when  Mrs.  R.  was 
present,  Mrs.  R.  recognised  her  as  her  ghost.  Martha  did 
not,  until  Mrs.  R.  called  her  attention  to  her,  and  Mr.  S. 
is  rather  dubious  as  to  whether  the  face  is  like  his  ghost 's. 
It  seemed,  however,  that  this  young  lady  had  been  ill  in 
Australia,  and  used  to  amuse  herself  by  trying  to  picture 
her  husband's  old  home.  But  even  if  she  had  succeeded  in 
making  her  astral  self  visible  to  those  occupying  the  home, 
it  had  not  given  her  any  knowledge,  for  she  did  not  recog- 
nise any  of  the  rooms ! 

Mrs.  Malleson,  on  a  Sunday  evening,  had  a  strong  im- 
pression that  a  friend,  who  was  known  to  be  ill  but  sup- 
posed to  be  out  of  danger,  had  died,  and  on  IMonday 
evening  she  saw  a  vision  of  her  very  distinctly.  The  next 
morning  she  heard  that  she  had  died  between  3  and 
4  A.M.  Sunday  morning.  Mrs.  Malleson  took  notes  on  this 
about  a  month  later ;  but  seven  years  later,  when  she  wrote 
the  account  for  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  neither 
her  husband  nor  daughter  remembered  her  story  distinctly 
enough  to  furnish  any  testimony. 

One  evening  Mrs.  Hall  and  her  husband  heard  a  knock- 
ing, and  when  she  turned  to  the  door  she  saw  a  man,  for- 
merly her  employer,  who  said,  "  Well,  Agnes,  how  are 
you?"  She  exclaimed  in  recognition,  and  he  vanished.  He 
died  within  a  week  or  so  of  that  time.  The  account  was 
written  within  a  week  after  the  occurrence  by  her  husband. 

In  five  cases  of  death  coincidences  described  respect- 

356 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

ively  two,  four,  ten,  twenty-three,  and  twenty-seven  years 
after  the  event,  the  deceased  had  promised  that,  if  possible, 
he  would  return  and  make  his  presence  felt  to  the  person 
seeing  the  apparition.  This,  of  course,  would  be  a  strong 
element  of  expectancy  in  any  case,  and  as  the  lapse  of  time 
before  writing  out  the  event  may  have  led  to  some  confu- 
sion as  to  the  actual  coincidence  of  the  ghost  with  the  death, 
we  would  seem  to  have  a  plausible  theory  as  to  the  origin 
of  these  five  ghosts.  The  Committee  lays  considerable  em- 
phasis on  the  fact  that  in  all  five  of  thase  cases  there  was 
no  expectation  of  the  death,  and,  if  the  evidence  was  good 
that  the  apparition  w^as  really  not  seen  before,  their  argu- 
ment would  hold.  They  claim,  of  course,  that  in  such  cases, 
such  as  when  the  daughter  saw  her  mother  lying  in  her 
coffin  and  afterward  learned  of  her  death,  even  after 
twenty-three  years  the  memory  would  not  transpose  the 
order  of  events  so  exciting  emotionally.  But,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  just  such  events  that  memory  is  likely  to  trans- 
pose, especially  where  it  is  aided,  as  in  these  cases,  by  the 
previous  promise  to  appear,  and  when  the  longing  to  be 
certain  of  survival  will  unconsciously  weight  all  the  evi- 
dence in  favour  of  it.  Again,  they  cite  cases  in  which  the 
phantasm  gave  the  percipient  information  unknown  to  him, 
in  some  instances  of  the  death,  in  another  of  a  scar,  etc., 
but  in  none  of  these  cases  are  there  contemporary  documents, 
and  none  was  written  out  less  than  four  years  after  its 
occurrence. 

]\Ir.  Podmore  also  takes  up  the  discussion  of  poltergeists 
and  haunted  houses,  giving  some  first-class  ghost  stories  of 
recent  occurrence. 

For  instance,  Mrs.  0  'Donnell,  writing  three  months  after 
the  event,  says  that  she  had  moved  into  furnished  rooms, 
and  even  the  first  evening  felt  unwell  and  heard  footsteps 
overhead  in  a  room,  which  she  found  was  unoccupied.  The 
second  night  was  worse,  and  the  third  night  she  kept  a  light, 
but  soon   felt  footsteps  overhead,   and   later,  on  turning 

357 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

toward  the  wall,  saw  a  horrible  figure,  with  one  hand  close 
to  her  face.  She  covered  her  face,  but  after  a  while  con- 
vinced herself  that  it  was  all  imagination,  looked  again, 
saw  it  again,  shrieked  in  terror,  put  out  her  hand  to  ward 
it  off,  felt  as  if  she  were  clutched  by  death,  and  knew  no 
more.  The  figure  she  saw  was  of  a  small,  dark  man,  with 
small  hands,  dressed  in  a  very  tattered  black  suit.  The  next 
night  she  stayed  in  her  daughter's  room,  and  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  night  her  locked  door  opened  and  a  small,  dark, 
gentlemanly  young  man  walked  in,  said,  "  Oh,  so  you  have 
the  Scotchman's  room,"  smiled  pleasantly,  and  walked  out. 
Then  she  told  her  friends;  inquiries  were  made,  and  they 
found  that,  a  few  weeks  before,  a  young  man,  answering  to 
the  appearance  of  the  ghost,  had  committed  suicide. 

Mr.  Podmore  says  they  have  many  similar  cases,  and 
in  his  most  recent  volume,  "  Telepathic  Hallucinations," 
offers  the  ingenious  theory  that  what  we  call  ghosts  are  in 
some  cases  hallucinations  in  which  the  person  seeing  the 
ghost  is  telepathically  affected  by  the  mind  either  of  the 
person  seen  or,  if  he  was  dead  at  the  time  of  the  vision,  by 
the  minds  of  those  who  knew  he  had  died.  He  does  not 
even  deny  that  the  mind  of  the  dead  person  himself  may 
perhaps  affect  the  living,  but  rather  inclines  to  the  first- 
mentioned  form.  He  still  quotes  the  Census  of  Hallucina- 
tions as  proof  that  coincidences  are  more  numerous  than 
chance  would  allow,  and  believes  telepathy  to  be  a  proven 
fact. 

The  Committee  concludes  its  work  as  follows: 

1.  With  regard  to  death  coincidences :  ' '  We  have  shown 
that — after  making  the  most  ample  allowance  for  all  ascer- 
tainable sources  of  error — the  number  of  these  experiences 
remains  far  greater  than  the  hypothesis  of  chance  coin- 
cidence will  account  for. 

2.  *'  We  have  presented  the  further  evidence  for  telep- 
athy afforded  by  cases  in  which  the  improbability  of  chance 
coincidence  does  not  allow  or  admit  of  the  same  exact  cal- 

358 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

culation  as  that  discussed  in  Chap.  XII  (on  death  co- 
incidences), although  their  cumulative  force,  in  any  fair 
estimate  of  the  whole  evidence,  must  be  regarded  as  con- 
siderable. 

3.  "  We  have  endeavoured  to  astimate  impartially,  and 
illustrate  by  the  most  noteworthy  cases  in  the  Census,  the 
evidence  tending  to  connect  the  seeing  of  apparitions  with 
certain  localities ;  but  we  have  not  found  any  strong  reasons 
for  attributing  phenomena  of  this  kind  to  the  agency  of 
the  dead. 

4.  "  Stronger  arguments,  however,  for  accepting  the 
possibility  of  communication  from  the  dead  to  the  living 
may  be  drawn  from  other  cases  included  in  our  returns; 
accordingly,  in  the  final  Chapter,  we  have  given  careful 
consideration  to  these  arguments,  although  we  do  not  re- 
gard them  as  in  themselves  conclusive. ' ' 

Their  general  conclusion  is:  '*  Between  deaths  and  ap- 
paritions of  the  dying  person  a  connection  exists  which  is 
not  due  to  chance  alone.    This  we  hold  as  a  proved  fact." 

And  the  report  is  signed  by  Henry  Sidgwick,  Alice 
Johnson,  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Frank  Podmore,  and  Eleanor 
Mildred  Sidgwick. 

The  general  bias  of  the  Committee  at  that  time  seemed 
to  point  away  from  communication  from  dead  to  living,  but 
toward  telepathy. 

In  the  general  discussion  of  telepathy  Messrs.  Podmore, 
Gurney,  and  Myers  distinguish  their  evidence  from  such 
as  that  given  for  witchcraft  and  magical  occurrences  by 
saying  that  theirs  comes  for  the  most  part  from  educated 
persons,  who  had  no  tendencies  to  belief  in  such  phenomena, 
and  that,  furthermore,  such  cases  do  not  fit  in  with  prev- 
alent habits  of  thought  and  so  are  not  readily  accepted, 
as  are  apparitions  of  the  dead. 

With  all  due  respect  to  the  authors,  I  would  question 
this  last  statement.  It  is  the  universal  tendency  of  all 
minds  to  believe  in  images  just  as  they  do  in  facts.    Locke 

359 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

tells  us  that  if  but  one  idea  is  present  to  a  person's  mind 
he  inevitably  believes  in  its  truth,  and  this  remark  has  been 
verified  again  and  again  by  modern  hypnotists.  Even  phi- 
losophers show  this,  Locke  having  tendencies  that  way,  and 
Descartes  and  Spinoza  stating  distinctly  that  the  marks 
of  truth  in  an  idea  are  its  clearness  and  distinctness.  The 
internal  testimony  of  an  idea  to  its  own  veridical  nature 
has  played  a  part  in  philosophy  that  has  by  no  means  been 
unimportant.  Now,  any  person  who  has  a  distinct  image 
of  another,  or  a  distinct  emotional  state  in  regard  to  him, 
which  arises  spontaneously,  and  whose  cause,  therefore,  he 
does  not  know,  tends  to  refer  that  image  or  emotion  to  the 
person  as  cause,  and  if  he  finds  that  at  about  that  time  the 
person  in  question  was  thinking  of  him,  his  instinctive  tend- 
ency becomes  a  conscious  one,  and  is  accepted  as  truth  in 
proportion  as  he  is  lacking  in  the  ability  to  test  for  cause 
and  effect  relations.  All  of  us  have  known  cases  where  we 
have  received  a  letter  from  a  friend  on  the  same  day  that 
we  have  mailed  one  to  that  same  friend,  and  it  is  amusing 
to  see  how  naturally  the  idea  pops  up  that  there  is  a  causal 
relationship  between  the  two  events,  even  though  the  friend 
may  live  in  California  and  we  in  New  England.  Such 
beliefs  have  been  fostered  from  time  immemorial  by  our 
ignorance  of  the  brain  and  of  psychic  activities,  and  our 
assumptions  of  psychic  media  which  may  transmit  thought 
waves.  There  may  be  psychic  media,  and  there  may  be 
thought  waves — he  is  a  bold  man  who  denies  them  in  toto — 
but  our  task  is  not  to  assume  them,  and  believe  that  we  have 
explained  any  phenomenon  when  we  have  referred  it  to 
them,  hut  to  demonstrate  them  under  conditions  which  ad- 
mit of  no  other  explanation.  The  authors  of  these  vol- 
umes do,  indeed,  set  before  themselves  this  ideal  of  demon- 
stration, but  they  do  not  anywhere  seem  to  see  the  defects 
in  their  testimony,  and  their  attitude  shows  this  tendency 
to  belief  too  clearly  for  the  sceptical  reader  to  be  convinced 
by  their  evidence. 

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A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

Furthermore,  although  they  discuss  at  considerable 
length  the  possible  errors  due  to  memory,  such  as  transpo- 
sition of  facts,  forgetfulness  of  dates,  and  the  general  tend- 
ency after  a  lapse  of  time  to  make  all  the  details  congruous, 
they  say  "  that  they  have  not  detected  definite  instances 
of  this  sort  of  inaccuracy."  But  how  could  they,  even  if 
such  existed  ?  There  are  no  contemporary  records  by  which 
to  test  the  person's  memory. 

Still  more,  one  must  remark  here  that  their  good  faith 
in  the  veracity  of  their  communicators  seems  to  us  too  easily 
given.  In  some  instances  the  communicators  are  not  known 
at  all ;  in  others,  only  to  friends ;  in  others,  they  have  been 
visited  by  one  of  the  authors,  who  records  his  "  impres- 
sion "  that  they  are  persons  of  good  common  sense  and 
veracity.  But  if  there  is  any  department  of  fact  where 
human  testimony  is  unreliable  it  is  just  this  one.  People 
who  have  the  best  intentions  in  the  world  lose  their  heads 
here,  and  so  twist  things  as  to  be  utterly  unreliable.  Still 
further,  few  things  are  more  unreliable  than  a  snap  judg- 
ment as  to  a  person 's  common  sense.  It  has  been  my  obser- 
vation that  people  who  have  vivid  images  and  emotions 
are,  more  than  others,  likely  to  assert  their  own  acuteness 
of  judgment,  and  to  talk  with  great  confidence  about  their 
ability  to  observe  correctly.  Their  own  vivid  consciousness 
of  what  is  passing  in  their  minds  creates  the  feeling  of 
truth,  and  leads  to  confident  assertion,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  ideas  may  be  wholly  at  variance  with  fact.  This 
phase  of  the  characters  of  people  given  to  having  telepathic 
communications,  veridical  apparitions,  spirit  communica- 
tions, etc.,  has  not,  I  believe,  been  sufficiently  appreciated 
by  those  taking  their  testimony.  I  have  been  studying  vari- 
ous cases  of  mediumship,  both  incipient  and  developed, 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  one  of  its  marks  is  just  the  vivid- 
ness of  the  mental  imagery  and  the  assertion  that  because 
vivid  it  is  true.  I  have  noted  that  the  persons  who  tell  me 
that  they  have  seen  ghosts,  or  have  had  warnings  of  deaths, 
26  361 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

etc.,  are  usually  persons  of  a  positive  habit  of  mind,  certain 
of  their  own  conclusions,  and  likely  to  be  visualisers, 
although  it  is  a  common  idea  that  such  people  are  likely 
to  be  dreamy  and  unpractical.  They  may,  indeed,  be  un- 
practical, in  that  they  may  have  no  interest  in  housework, 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  their  mental  structure  is  jelly  like 
and  inchoate. 

Now  then,  take  a  person  with  this  turn  of  mind,  and 
suppose  he  wakes  up  at  night  with  that  vague  feeling  of 
presence  which  all  of  us  have  at  times.  This  sense  of  pres- 
ence startles  him,  and  a  vivid  picture  flashes  before  him  of 
some  friend.  We  cannot  tell  what  friend  will  come  before 
him,  because  we  do  not  know  enough  about  the  deeper  cur- 
rents of  association  and  emotion  which  determine  such 
things.  But  some  friend  comes  into  his  mind,  and  he  then 
questions  what  this  means.  Is  the  friend  thinking  of  him? 
Is  he  ill,  or  dead  ?  And  then  perhaps  he  sees  his  friend  in 
pain  or  in  his  coffin.  Now  if,  later  on,  he  learns  that  the 
friend  died  at  that  time,  or  was  ill,  or  was  thinking  of  him, 
his  inference  to  a  causal  relationship  is  certain;  but  if  he 
gets  no  such  news,  what  then  1  The  image  is  soon  totally 
forgotten  or  remembered  as  one  of  the  chance  ideas 
that  everybody  has.  But  for  us  the  most  valuable  ques- 
tion that  could  be  answered  is  what  proportion  such  unful- 
filled ideas  bear  to  fulfilled  ones,  and  how  far  similar 
habits  of  thought  will  account  for  community  of  ideas  at 
a  given  time.  Vaschide's  observations  are  very  suggestive 
here. 

The  authors  also  lay  much  stress  upon  the  number  of 
cases  recorded,  saying  that  while  the  defects  of  evidence 
would  throw  a  few  out  of  consideration,  the  accumulated 
weight  of  many  makes  it  impossible  to  treat  them  thus  sum- 
marily. They  cannot  be  disposed  of  merely  by  references  to 
the  general  untrustworthiness  of  human  evidence,  but  must 
be  answered  in  detail.  But  if  we  show  that  in  each  case 
there  is  some  defect  of  evidence,  surely  the  evidence  is  dis- 

362 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

posed  of,  and  the  more  so  if  the  defects  are  of  a  similar 
character  in  many  cases.  When,  for  instance,  the  authors 
accept  with  complacency  record  after  record  which  was 
not  made  until  a  year  or  several  or  many  years  after  the 
event,  one  is  surely  not  under  any  obligation  to  consider 
the  evidence  as  having  any  scientific  value  whatever. 
Where  could  you  find  a  scientist  who  would  expect  his 
brother  scientists  to  believe  that  he  had  discovered  a  new 
natural  force  on  the  strength  of  experiments  whose  results 
were  not  written  out  until  a  year  or  more  after  they  were 
made?  The  notion  is  preposterous  on  its  very  face.  And 
yet  this  is  exactly  what  these  investigators  expect,  and, 
curiously,  they  seem  to  believe  that  their  ease  is  made 
stronger  by  the  fact  of  ' '  their  harmony,  alike  in  what  they 
do  and  in  what  they  do  not  present."  Such  harmony  does, 
it  is  true,  do  away  largely,  if  not  altogether,  with  the  hy- 
pothesis of  fraud,  but  has  no  bearing  whatever  on  the  other 
defects,  for  if  this  group  of  phenomena  has  been  created 
by  certain  general  tendencies  of  the  human  mind  in  forget- 
ting, certain  common  tendencies  of  belief  and  interpreta- 
tion, then  each  case  would  conform  sufficiently  to  these  gen- 
eral tendencies  to  show  its  community  with  the  others,  and 
would  differ  just  enough  to  show  the  sincerity  of  the  nar- 
rator. To  put  it  differently,  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
with  the  authors  * '  that  the  cases  recorded  bear  strong  signs 
of  belonging  to  a  true  natural  group,"  and  that  the  group 
is  well  worthy  of  careful  study,  but  we  are  at  present  in- 
clined to  think  that  such  study  would  show  that  these  sup- 
posed cases  of  telepathy  are  the  outcropping  of  images 
w^hich  have  developed  in  a  certain  type  of  mind  according 
to  definite  laws  of  perception,  memory,  and  inference, 
which  are  now  in  part  known,  and  which  should  be  stud- 
ied in  detail.  This  type  of  mind  is  not  properly  called  the 
hysterical  type,  though  it  has  perhaps  some  of  those  char- 
acteristics ;  it  is  closely  allied  to  the  mystical  type ;  it  has, 
perhaps,  tendencies  to  secondarj^  personality;  as  we  have 

363 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

already  said,  it  has  vivid  memories  and  images  and  emo- 
tions, and  a  strong  tendency  therefore  to  belief  in  their 
truth-bearing  character. 

But  it  may  not  be  superstitious  nor  religious  in  the  or- 
dinary sense  of  those  terms;  it  may,  and  usually  does,  be- 
lieve itself  to  be  essentially  reasonable  and  well  balanced; 
and  in  many  instances  it  is  so  in  that  its  possessors  hold 
important  positions,  and  perform  their  work  efficiently  and 
often  notably  well. 

The  careful  study  of  this  type  is  still  a  psychological 
desideratum,  not  an  accomplished  fact. 

Our  standpoint,  therefore,  in  reading  the  evidence 
brought  forward  for  telepathy,  mediumship,  etc.,  is  not  so 
much  to  an  interest  in  the  evidence  as  in  the  type  of  mind 
which  displays  such  phenomena.  We  are  desirous  of  get- 
ting back  to  the  mental  laws  which  have  produced  them, 
and  be  they  only  manifestations  of  lying,  or  of  other  things, 
our  interest  is  about  as  great  in  the  former  case  as  in  the 
latter.  Suppose,  for  instance,  it  should  turn  out  that  Mrs. 
Piper's  subliminal  self  is  simply  a  consummate  actor  that 
has  been  coached  for  twenty-three  years  in  his  various  parts 
by  all  the  Psychical  Researchers,  would  not  the  disclosure 
of  the  details  of  this  coaching  and  the  workings  of  this 
mind,  and  its  relations  to  the  normal  mind  of  the  medium, 
be  a  thrilling  chapter  in  the  science  of  psychology?  Or, 
again,  suppose  that  all  the  phenomena  of  veridical  appari- 
tions, telepathy,  etc.,  should  be  referable  to  the  community 
of  ideas  existing  between  friends  and  people  of  the  same 
type  of  mind,  would  this  not  be  as  valuable  a  fact  as  the 
assumption  of  telepathy?  It  would  not  gratify  our  taste 
for  the  marvelous,  to  be  sure,  but  it  might  help  us  more 
in  life. 

Let  us  summarise  now  the  eases  for  all  sorts  of  telep- 
athy at  a  distance,  both  spontaneous  and  experimental,  in- 
cluding here  also  veridical  death  apparitions  and  ghosts, 
and  see  just  how  large  the  mass  of  material  is  that  has 

364 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

been  accumulated  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
since  its  organisation  in  1882  to  the  present  time. 

In  all,  there  are  eighty-eight  prima  facie  cases  of  one 
form  or  another  of  telepathy,  which  were  recorded  within 
a  year  of  their  occurrence.  Since  these  have  been  collected 
for  twenty-eight  years,  we  have  an  average  of  three  and 
one-seventh  cases  to  a  year.  This  makes  the  case  for  such 
forms  of  telepathy  pitifully  weak  from  the  numerical  stand- 
point alone,  but  when  one  comes  to  consider  other  defects 
in  the  evidence,  the  matter  is  still  worse. 

In  the  cases  of  experimental  thought-transference  at  a 
distance,  on  which  the  authors  themselves  lay  little  stress 
because  they  are  so  very  few  in  number,  we  are  told  noth- 
ing of  the  relations  between  percipient  and  agent  in  most 
cases,  though  in  others  we  know  that  they  were  intimate 
friends,  and  we  are  led  to  infer  that  this  was  nearly  always 
the  case.  But  if  it  is  the  case,  the  wonder  is  not  that  there 
were  some  coincidences  in  their  thought,  but  that  there  were 
not  more.  Even  in  the  case  of  friends  who  have  been  sep- 
arated from  one  for  years,  and  from  whom  one  seldom 
hears,  one  has  many  more  flitting  thoughts  and  dreams  of 
them  than  one  would  credit  without  taking  especial  note  of 
the  matter.  When  one  sees  the  friend  now  and  then,  or  if 
the  habits  of  thought  are  similar,  the  chances  of  such  coin- 
cidences are  indefinitely  increased. 

The  great  trouble  with  the  cases  for  all  sorts  of  telep- 
athy is  that  it  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  impossible  to  collect 
all  the  negative  instances,  for  that  would  mean  devoting 
most  of  one's  time  to  writing  down  the  thoughts  which 
bring  up  persons.  We  cannot  even  begin  to  calculate  the 
probabilities  in  the  case  until  we  know  something  more  of 
the  numbers  of  negative  cases. 

Again,  a  considerable  number  of  these  eighty-eight  cases 
were  vague,  and  made  no  impression  upon  the  percipient 
until  she  heard  later  of  the  coincidence.  But  if  the  verid- 
ical coincidences  have  no  mark  which  shows  their  nature  at 

365 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

the  time,  does  it  not  raise  the  question  of  whether  their 
origin  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  non-veridical  coincidences, 
and  the  apparent  veridical  characteristic  merely  a  chance? 
Many  things  may  coincide  in  time  which  have  no  canse- 
and-effect  relation.  When  there  is  a  time  coincidence,  the 
probability  of  the  relation  being  one  of  cause  and  effect 
increases  with  the  frequency  of  the  coincidence,  the  lack  of 
other  explanations,  and  our  ability  to  trace  the  passage 
from  cause  to  effect.  But  all  these  marks  are  lacking  in 
telepathy.  It  is  highly  infrequent,  even  if  we  include  all 
the  cases  cited  by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  vari- 
ous other  explanations  are  possible,  and,  most  of  all,  we 
cannot  at  present  form  any  satisfactory  theory  as  to  how 
such  thought-transference  could  take  place  without  the  rec- 
ognised channels  of  sense. 

Here  there  are  at  most  only  three  theoretical  possibili- 
ties :  one  person 's  brain  may  in  some  mysterious  way  affect 
another  person's  brain  without  employing  the  afferent  and 
efferent  nerves ;  one  person 's  mind  may  somehow  affect  an- 
other person's  mind  directly,  without  either  mind  using 
the  brain  or  nerves ;  one  person 's  brain  may  affect  another 
person 's  mind,  or  vice  versa.  But  all  these  are  purely  hypo- 
thetical, and  at  present  the  modus  operandi  for  them  is  in- 
conceivable.   Let  us  consider  the  objections  a  little. 

The  writers  upon  this  subject  make  light  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  transferring  thought  from  one  brain  to  another 
without  using  the  sense  organs.  They  speak  easily  of  wire- 
less telegraphy  as  analogous,  and  of  ether  waves,  etc.,  as  the 
media  of  transmission,  without  seeming  to  realise  at  all 
the  enormous  weight  of  history  and  experience  against  such 
an  assumption. 

If  it  is  possible  for  nervous  stimuli  to  pass  through 
space  in  the  way  they  so  blithely  assume,  why  has  not  hu- 
manity developed  that  mode  of  communication  instead  of 
the  infinitely  more  laborious  one  of  speech,  writing,  and  the 
postal  service,  and  telegraphy  and  the  telephone?     If,  as 

366 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

practically  every  student  to-day  believes,  bad  as  present- 
day  conditions  are,  they  are  still  the  survival  of  the  best 
and  most  useful  conditions  for  life,  how  could  it  possibly 
happen  that  such  a  power  as  telepathy  should  not  have 
been  developed  at  a  rapidly  increasing  rate  ?  If  it  is  a  gen- 
uine power,  it  would  from  the  beginning  of  thought  cer- 
tainly have  been  the  strongest  factor  in  enabling  its  posses- 
sors to  survive,  for  even  if  it  existed  in  only  a  rudimentary 
fashion,  as  a  vague  feeling  of  premonition,  it  would  confer 
a  tremendous  advantage  in  enabling  one  to  escape  danger 
and  enemies  or  to  obtain  advantages.  But,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  those  who  claim  to  be  the  possessors  of  such  feelings 
have  never  been  able  to  depend  upon  them,  and  the  cases 
where  they  have  used  them  to  advantage  are  decidedly 
counterbalanced  by  those  when  trust  in  them  led  to  disaster. 
Again,  the  advocates  of  telepathy  do  not  seem  to  appre- 
ciate the  difficulty  in  framing  an  explanation  of  how  such 
communication  could  be  effected.  Within  the  limits  of  one 
person's  nervous  system  it  is  known  that  stimuli  never  jump 
across  from  nerve  to  nerve,  even  if  the  nerves  lie  contiguous 
to  each  other,  with  not  so  much  as  one-thousandth  of  an 
inch  between  them.  Furthermore,  communication  is  pos- 
sible from  nerve  end  to  nerve  end  only  when  the  two  ends 
come  into  contact,  and  an  infinitesimally  small  withdrawal 
severs  all  possibilities  of  communication  and  cuts  those  two 
regions  of  the  brain  off  from  one  another.  Now,  if  the 
nervous  processes  within  one  person's  brain  are  thus  nar- 
rowly and  exactly  conditioned  by  the  contacts  between  nerve 
ends,  if  no  amount  of  intensity  can  free  him  from  the  neces- 
sity of  these  neural  contacts,  what  reason  have  we  to  sup- 
pose that  these  neural  waves  can  beat  out  through  the  skull 
into  the  surrounding  ether?  So  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no 
access  to  the  nervous  system  save  through  the  sense  organs, 
and  no  exit  for  a  stimulus  save  through  some  form  of  mo- 
tor response.  If  we  believed  these  to  be  genuine  cases  of 
telepathy,  perhaps  we  might  conceive  the  percipient  to  be 

367 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

so  liypersesthetic  as  really  to  perceive  what  was  going  on 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  miles  away,  but  as  we  have 
already  said,  there  is  no  real  evidence  of  such  cases  being 
anything  more  than  chance  coincidences;  but  to  assume 
that  nervous  activity  can  somehow  escape  from  the 
brain  directly,  and  then  imprint  itself  upon  other 
brains,  shows  a  colossal  ignoring  both  of  neurology  and  of 
physics. 

Those  who  advance  such  theories  refer  again  and  again 
to  ether  as  a  universal  substance,  to  the  modern  theories  of 
electrons,  whorls,  etc.  But  they  ignore  the  fact  of  the  dif- 
ferences within  generalities.  Doubtless  the  human  nervous 
system  does  contain  ether,  just  as  all  space  is  supposed  to 
be  filled  with  it,  but  these  theorists  should  take  note  that 
the  general  concept  of  ether  does  no  work.  Light,  for  in- 
stance, is  transmitted  by  waves  of  certain  definite  ranges 
in  length  and  under  certain  definite  conditions;  electricity 
has  another  series  of  waves  and  conditions;  heat,  still  an- 
other ;  sound,  still  another ;  and  no  sane  person  attempts  to 
get  light  by  supplying  merely  heat  conditions,  and  he  ap- 
preciates the  fact  that  when  he  increases  the  heat  vibrations 
sufficiently  to  get  light  he  no  longer  has  the  same  heat  as 
before,  but  a  different  heat. 

The  arrangement  of  the  ultimate  particles,  whatever 
they  may  be,  which  will  transmit  light  is  a  specific  one, 
so  that  that  arrangement  will  not  transmit  most  forms  of 
heat;  each  form  of  electricity  can  be  transmitted  only  by 
a  specific  arrangement  of  the  electrons;  and  so  on.  Un- 
doubtedly the  same  thing  holds  everywhere.  Nervous  stim- 
uli can  only  be  transmitted  under  certain  definite  condi- 
tions which  ultimately  demand  certain  forms  of  arrange- 
ment of  the  electrons,  and  these  are  different  from  and  far 
more  complex  than  those  necessary  for  the  transmission 
of  light,  heat,  etc.  Before  a  nervous  stimulus  could  jump 
out  into  space  from  the  brain  and  take  any  other  form  of 
ether,  it  would  have  to  be  so  disintegrated  that  it  would  no 

368 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

longer  be  a  nervous  stimulus,  but  something  totally  dif- 
ferent and  unrecognisable. 

Again,  take  the  notion  that  mind  can  affect  mind  di- 
rectly, without  either  mind  employing  the  brain  and  body. 
Mr.  Balfour  ^  says  that  this  is  to  him  far  more  believable 
than  the  last  form  of  the  telepathic  theory,  because  he  can- 
not conceive  how  one  brain  could  thus  affect  another.  This 
remark  shows  how  natural  it  is  for  the  human  mind  to 
assume  that  unknown  regions  are  always  full  of  marvels 
and  miracles.  We  do  know  enough  about  physics  and 
the  nervous  system  to  realise  the  absurdity  of  one  brain 
affecting  another  without  sense  organs,  but  we  know  noth- 
ing of  mind  per  se,  and  so  can,  strictly  speaking,  assert 
nothing  of  it. 

Let  us  emphasise  this  point  a  little.  No  one,  not  even 
the  most  ardent  Spiritist,  has  ever  seen  any  psychical  mani- 
festation of  any  sort  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  assert  that 
his  own  brain  and  nervous  system,  at  least,  were  not  in- 
volved in  apprehending  it,  and  the  further  psychology 
pushes  observation  and  experiment  the  more  confidently  it 
makes  the  assertion  that,  for  this  life  at  least,  mind  and 
brain  never  work  separately.  So  much  is  not  a  question  of 
speculation,  but  of  carefully  tested  observation  on  which 
practically  all  modern  psychologists  are  agreed. 

In  some  other  life  minds  may  be  free  from  brains,  and 
telepathy  may  then  be  the  common  form  of  communication, 
but  that  life,  we  are  told,  is  one  that  "  eye  hath  not  seen 
nor  ear  heard,  nor  the  tongue  of  man  been  able  to  declare, ' ' 
which  means  that  we  are  totally  ignorant  of  its  nature  now. 

The  third  form  of  telepathy,  therefore,  becomes  equally 
unintelligible,  because  we  cannot  conceive  what  this  pure 
mind  is  which  acts  upon  brain,  and  also  because  we  cannot, 
in  the  last  analysis,  believe  that  any  substance  or  force  can 

1  Hon.  Gerald  Balfour,  Hibbert  Journal,  April,  1910,  "Psycliical 
Research  and  Current  Doctrines  of  Mind  and  Body." 

369 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

act  upon  one  of  a  totally  different  nature.  Cause  and  effect, 
that  is,  must  ultimately  be  reducible  to  a  common  de- 
nominator. 

Recognition  of  these  difficulties  has  led  some  Spiritists, 
notably  Hyslop,  to  work  out  in  considerable  detail  theories 
of  the  future  life  and  the  soul  that  make  both  ultimately 
material  in  nature. 

But  to  suppose,  as  some  of  these  writers  imply,  that 
either  thoughts  or  nervous  stimuli  are  floating  about  in 
space  is  a  crude  notion  that  at  its  best  belongs  to  the  earli- 
est days  of  philosophical  speculation.  As  we  are  seeing  in 
the  recent  writings  of  some  Psychical  Researchers,  such  an 
attitude  ends  in  the  belief  in  the  actual,  literal  existence  of 
all  grades  of  disembodied  psychical  existences,  from  the 
most  rudimentary  and  malevolent  up.  According  to  it 
demonology  is  truer  than  science  and  evolution;  and  the- 
urgy and  magic  are  preferable  to  experiment  and  adher- 
ence to  fact. 

Surely  any  assumption  which  is  thus  at  variance  with 
our  fundamental  ideas  of  matter  and  of  life  demands,  to 
justify  belief  in  it,  unexplained  facts  in  far  larger  num- 
bers than  have  yet  been  supplied,  and  far  more  carefully 
obtained. 

We  have  already  noted  that  experiments  on  the  num- 
ber and  letter  habits  showed  that  many  of  the  early  ex- 
periments in  thought-transference  could  be  explained  by 
reference  to  these  habits.  In  other  cases,  it  was  found  that 
the  percipient  was  hypergesthetic  or  that  the  agent  gave 
involuntary  signs  which  the  percipient's  subconsciousness 
interpreted. 

We  are  still  lacking,  however,  sufficient  study  to  show 
the  communities  of  thought  between  persons,  though 
Vaschide  has  made  an  excellent  beginning  along  this  line. 
If  the  Psychical  Researchers  would  set  their  percipients 
and  agents  to  work  to  note  as  many  as  possible  of  their 
thoughts  at  certain  times  of  the  day,  and  especially  to  trac- 

370 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

ing  the  orifrin  of  those  thoughts,  we  should  get  most  valu- 
able material  as  to  the  effect  of  milieu.  This  Vaschide 
did  to  some  extent,  and  publishes  the  results  in  his  article 
on  "  Les  Hallucinations  Telepathiques. "  (Paris,  1908, 
97  pp.) 

He  thinks  that  we  are  extending  the  limits  of  our  knowl- 
edge, and  cites  the  English  studies  of  apparitions,  and  also 
those  of  Marillier,  begun  in  1892,  which  seem  to  show  that 
people  in  important  crises  of  their  lives  or  at  death  tend  to 
appear  to  their  friends.  Poincare  has  pointed  out  the  weak- 
ness of  the  calculus  of  probabilities.  Vaschide  investigated 
twentj'-one  subjects,  noting  sex,  age,  education,  the  num- 
ber of  determinations,  the  subject's  faith,  the  number  of 
true  and  false  items,  and  the  senses  involved.  Out  of  1,011 
determinations,  5.47  per  cent  seemed  true.  In  another  test 
Avith  thirteen  people,  4.36  per  cent  were  true. 

The  coincidences  he  thinks  explicable  on  psychological 
grounds.  Most  of  his  French  subjects  were  intimate 
friends,  and  he  was  engaged  for  nine  years  upon  these 
studies.  He  was  often  able  to  get  correct  impressions  of 
what  was  transpiring  in  their  minds  during  walks,  at  work 
in  the  laboratory,  etc.  He  does  not  agree  with  Gurney  and 
Podmore  that  ideational  centres  strongly  tend  to  project 
their  images  into  the  visual  field ;  but  thinks  that  the  pre- 
dominance of  visual  cases  is  due  to  the  fact  that  most  of 
his  subjects  are  visualisers.  Education  gives  very  great  im- 
munity against  telepathy,  which  goes  with  sentimentality 
and  credulity.  A  believer  is  usually  a  good  subject,  far 
better  than  reasoner.  A  vivid  imagination  is  a  great 
help.  Peasants  and  religious  people  are  especially  prone 
to  believe  in  telepathy.  He  tabulates  his  results,  based, 
however,  only  on  fifty  subjects,  as  follows :  of  ignorant  peas- 
ants, ninety  per  cent  believe;  the  clergy  and  those  whose 
instruction  is  mostly  religious,  98.1  per  cent ;  the  clergy 
with  better  instruction,  sixty-eight  per  cent;  educated 
workmen,   25.3  per  cent;  university  men,  publicists,  and 

371 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

authors,  9.5  per  cent.  To  be  keenly  sensible  to  telepathy 
one  must  have  led  a  rather  vivid  life  with  considerable  ex- 
perience, and  a  good  stock  of  memories  and  pains,  with  last- 
ing relations  and  long  friendships,  which  are  not  so  com- 
mon to  the  young. 

The  great  criticism  of  the  English  inquest  is,  he  thinks, 
the  extreme  confidence  which  the  authors  have  in  strangers, 
repeating  tediously  their  own  words.  His  conclusion  is 
that  there  is  much  intellectual  community  between  two  sub- 
jects where  telepathic  hallucination  is  possible.  There  must 
be  intimacy,  love,  sympathy ;  and,  second,  the  object  of  the 
hallucination  very  often  appears  in  a  moribund  state  or  in 
great  pain. 

Our  psychic  apparatus  is  vastly  more  complex,  says 
Vaschide,  than  we  realise.  The  notion  of  the  voyage  of  a 
soul,  death,  coma,  or  dreams,  is  widespread,  and  there  are 
many  polarisations.  Time  makes  ravages  with  details,  the 
general  belief  in  the  miraculous  helps,  and  in  crises  the 
mind  is  disorientated,  muddled,  arrested,  and  so  cannot  re- 
member exactly.  It  is  hard  to  reproduce  reveries  and  in- 
tense experiences,  so  that  memory  is  very  often  profoundly 
mistaken,  and  lies  are  mixed  with  truth.  There  is  "  a  cer- 
tain desire  to  accentuate  a  particular  experience  or  belief, 
which  is  part  of  our  amour  propre, ' '  and  this  helps  occult- 
ism and  the  romantic  factor  of  dreams. 

The  social  milieu  is  determined,  and  may  make  a  psychic 
epidemic.  Vaschide  thinks  that  in  97  out  of  100  of  his 
experiments  the  social  milieu  was  the  principal  factor  of 
the  telepathic  hallucination.  Flammarion  issued  a  ques- 
tionnaire in  his  journal,  asking  whether  the  person  had  ever 
experienced  a  distinct  impression  of  having  seen  a  human 
being  or  having  been  touched  by  one  without  being  able  to 
refer  this  impression  to  an  external  cause.  To  this  he  re- 
ceived 4,280  replies,  of  which  1,421  were  affirmative;  but 
his  question  was  very  suggestive,  and  some  of  the  cases  re- 
ported were  rumours  and  old,  etc.     Richet  and  Bechterew 

372 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

long  ago  concluded  that  there  are  probably  no  veridical 
hallucinations. 

In  fine,  there  is  a  mine  of  intellectual,  pre-established 
harmony  or  psychic  parallelism  or  intellectual  mimetism 
amounting  almost  to  an  ankylosis  of  mind.  Our  subcon- 
scious systematisations  are  often  more  alike  than  we  know. 

Again,  to  show  the  unreliability  of  memory,  Vaschide 
kept  the  most  careful  account  of  the  visions  as  given  by  the 
subjects  at  the  time,  of  the  coincidences  which  they  later 
asserted  between  the  vision  and  the  fact,  and  of  the  actual 
coincidences.  In  experimenting  thus  with  13  subjects,  he 
found  that  out  of  344  coincidences,  which  the  subjects  be- 
lieved existed  between  the  vision  and  the  fact,  only  8  really 
did  exist,  i.  e.,  the  subjects  were  wrong  in  336  cases.  With 
21  other  subjects,  out  of  981  asserted  coincidences  only  40 
were  correct,  and  941  were  wrong.  Of  all  these  supposed 
coincidences  the  48  true  ones  occurred  in  less  than  sixty 
hours  of  the  real  event,  that  is,  with  34  subjects  he  obtained 
48  "  veridical  hallucinations,"  a  much  larger  percentage 
than  the  Psychical  Researchers  obtained,  and  in  all  these 
cases  knowing  his  subjects  and  their  milieu  well,  he  is  able 
to  show  just  how  the  vision  originated.  He  also  shows  the 
implicit  faith  which  members  of  the  subject's  own  family 
often  give  to  it,  even  where  the  memory  is  entirely  wrong, 
and  he  emphasises  the  fact  that  when  the  person  who  had 
the  vision  questions  the  one  who  was  seen  in  the  vision  as 
to  whether  at  that  time  she  was  in  distress,  was  thinking  of 
the  subject,  etc.,  a  false  memory  is  frequently  built  up  so 
that  an  agreement  is  reached  even  when  there  are  no  actual 
facts  on  which  to  agree. 

One  closes  this  pamphlet,  with  its  sane  and  temperate 
criticisms  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,  with  the  great- 
est regret  that  M.  Vaschide 's  death  has  prevented  the  de- 
tailed publication  of  his  cases,  for  such  a  study  shows  the 
utterly  unscientific  character  of  the  Society 's  data  as  noth- 
ing else  can. 

373 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

As  unintentionally  confirmatory  of  Vaschide's  opinion 
that  intimacy  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  so-called  veridical  hal- 
lucinations, we  may  give  the  following  summary  of  the 
cases  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living: 

There  are  702  numbered  cases  of  phantasms,  each  ease 
representing  at  least  one  different  agent  and  percipient; 
63  -(-  per  cent  of  the  agents  are  males,  perhaps  because 
men  are  more  liable  than  women  to  accident  and  death,  and 
more  die  at  a  distance.  Adding  instances  that  came  in 
later,  and  on  a  basis  of  830  cases,  the  agent  stood  to  the  per- 
cipient in  the  relation  of : 


Friend                          in  263 

cases 

=  31.7 

Parent  or  child           ' 

'   193 

=  23.3 

Brother  or  sister         ' 

'   122 

=  14.7 

Acquaintance               ' 

'     89 

=  10.7 

Cousin,  uncle,  etc.      ' 

'     75 

=     9.0 

Husband  or  wife        * 

'     52 

=     6.3 

Stranger                       ' 

'     36 

=     4.3 

per  cent 


a 


In  forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  eases  there  is  blood  rela- 
tionship, and  relatives  often  belong  to  the  circle  of  intimate 
friends,  and  yet  the  authors  conclude  that  ''  consanguinity, 
as  such,  has  little,  if  any,  predisposing  influence  in  the 
transmission  of  telepathic  impressions."  They  also  hold 
that  the  inf  requency  of  transmissions  between  husband  and 
wife  "  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  commoner  for 
married  persons  than  for  blood  relations  to  be  together, 
when  one  of  the  two  dies."  Of  these  cases  fifteen  are  col- 
lective, in  which  some  intimate  friend  of  the  agent  was  one 
of  the  co-percipients,  and  was  perhaps  the  "  link  between 
the  agent  and  the  stranger  percipient." 

If  we  add  to  the  47  per  cent  of  cases  between  relatives, 
31.7  per  cent  more  between  friends  it  would  seem  that  the 
argument  for  community  of  thought  rather  than  for  telep- 
athy is  rather  strong. 

374 


A    CENSUS    OF    HALLUCINATIONS 

All  in  all,  then,  is  the  assumption  of  practically  all  of 
the  Psychical  Researchers  that  telepathy  is  a  "  proved 
fact,"  whatever  its  explanation  may  be,  justified?  Grant- 
ing that  many  of  their  cases  are  not  published  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings, it  is  still  true  that  the  best  are,  and  if  the  char- 
acter of  the  evidence  is  so  faulty  in  these,  it  must  be  still 
weaker  in  the  rest.  Furthermore,  even  if  the  observations 
M'ere  made  at  the  time  instead  of  being  in  nearly  all  cases 
dependent  upon  the  memory  of  days,  weeks,  or  years,  we 
still  have  the  difficult  question,  which  psychology  has 
scarcely  begun  to  answer,  of  how  much  community  of 
thought  exists  as  the  result  of  a  common  environment,  edu- 
cation, temperament,  etc.  Until  we  have  had  more  careful 
studies  of  this  latter  point,  even  many  cases  of  so-called 
telepathy  would  not  demonstrate  telepathy. 

We  do  not  realise  at  all  adequately  the  great  store  of 
thoughts  common  even  to  all  people  living  in  the  same  cen- 
tury, and  much  more  to  those  of  the  same  race,  nation,  city, 
circle  of  acquaintances,  and  family,  especially  if  to  this  are 
added  similarity  of  education  and  tastes.  All  of  us  are  far 
more  social  in  our  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  far  less  in- 
dividual than  we  think  we  are. 

Again,  we  have  not  even  begun  to  realise  the  great 
amount  of  inferring  and  systematising  about  slight  indica- 
tions, unattended-to  facts,  emotional  factors,  etc.,  which  is 
constantly  going  on  in  the  outskirts  of  our  minds  or  even 
below  the  level  of  consciousness,  and  which  may  suddenly 
impulsively  push  into  the  centre  of  attention  with  all  the 
vividness  and  completeness  of  a  "  veridical  hallucination." 
Practically  no  one,  except  a  person  with  an  unusual  power 
of  self-analysis,  is  competent  in  such  cases  to  trace  out  the 
factors  in  the  vision  for  himself,  but  with  the  new  methods 
of  psycho-analysis  now  at  hand  we  may  be  able  to  do  this  in 
the  near  future,  and  it  is  my  firm  conviction  that,  just  in 
proportion  as  it  is  done,  "  veridical  hallucinations  "  and  all 
kinds  of  telepathy  will  be  reduced  to  the  natural  coinci- 

375 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

denees  existing  between  normal  minds  under  our  highly 
complex  social  conditions.  Telepathy  and  spirit  communi- 
cation are  simply  convenient  terms  by  which  to  name  our 
ignorance  of  certain  regions  of  the  psyche.  Those  regions 
are  in  themselves  no  more  and  no  less  mysterious  than  rea- 
soning and  perception.  But  they  are  unknown,  and  so,  like 
ancient  geographers,  many  students  pf  the  mind  in  draw- 
ing their  map  of  it,  instead  of  simply  printing  soberly  over 
those  regions  terrce  incognitce,  have  drawn  in  monsters,  de- 
mons, genii,  angels,  and  God  himself,^  as  if  there  could  be 
no  God  save  the  unknown  God  to  whom  the  superstitious 
Athenians  erected  their  altar. 

Rather  we  should  have  the  practical  faith  of  Columbus 
that  we  shall  not  fall  off  the  earth  into  infinite  space  no 
matter  how  far  we  sail,  and  that,  however  far  we  go,  men's 
minds  and  men's  hands  will  serve  us  in  those  unknown 
lands  and  against  those  unknown  foes  as  well  as  they  have 
in  the  past. 

1  Cf.  James,  "  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"  in  which 
he  suggests  that  the  subconscious  mind  is  the  avenue  by  which  we 
approach  God. 


CHAPTER    XXII 
CONCLUSION 

Before  closing  this  discussion  we  should  consider  at 
least  briefly  the  motives  which  give  the  impetus  to  such  be- 
liefs as  Spiritism  and  telepathy,  and  their  effects  upon  the 
mental  attitude  and  life  of  those  who  believe  them. 

In  the  discussion  of  Spiritism  we  hear  a  great  deal  about 
adopting  the  simpler  hypothesis,  the  implication  being  that 
spirit  communication  is  a  simpler  hypothesis  than  the  nat- 
uralistic interpretation. 

To  this  it  may  first  be  said  that  our  idea  of  what  simplic- 
ity is  depends  wholly  upon  our  general  state  of  culture.  To 
the  savage  and  to  many  uneducated  people  it  seems  simpler 
to  believe  that  the  sun  rises  and  sets  than  that  the  earth 
moves  about  it.  To  children  it  seems  simpler  to  say  that 
the  rolling  of  barrels  in  heaven  is  the  cause  of  thunder 
than  laboriously  to  trace  out  its  relations  to  electricity.  To 
the  untrained  mind  it  seems  simpler  to  assume  that  God 
created  life  or  even  man  directly,  than  to  attempt  to  re- 
produce in  thought  the  highly  complex  conditions  under 
which  the  simplest  life-forms  must  have  shaped  themselves. 
Similarly,  to  very  many  minds  to-day  it  seems  far  simpler 
to  assume  spirit  communication  than  to  study  the  manifold 
hereditary  and  social  relations,  the  conditions  of  nerve  cells 
and  sense  organs  which  explain  not  only  the  test  messages 
obtained  through  mediums,  but  also  the  nonsense.  True  sci- 
entific simplicity  is  not  the  result  of  simple  thought  proc- 
esses, but  of  the  most  persistent  labour,  and  it  is  attained 
in  proportion  as  many  facts  can  be  explained  by  one  law. 
Therefore,  the  scientific  presumption  is  against  such  the- 
27  377 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ories  as  spirit  communication  and  telepathy,  which  not  only 
demand  the  rejection  of  what  we  already  know  about  ner- 
vous action,  but  the  assumption  of  some  unknown  force 
whose  conditions  are  always  identical  either  with  those  nec- 
essary for  deception  and  sleight  of  hand,  or  else  are  those 
under  which  we  are  in  partial  ignorance  of  all  that  was 
said  or  done.  That  is  to  say,  the  present  presumption  is 
that  just  in  proportion  as  the  conditions  leading  up  to  a 
test  message  are  known  and  the  characteristics  of  the  sit- 
ter and  medium  are  fully  described,  we  shall  find  the  mys- 
terious nature  of  the  messages  dissolving  into  thin  air. 
When  even  so  ardent  an  advocate  of  spirit  communication 
as  Hyslop  is  forced  to  assume,  in  order  to  explain  the  in- 
coherences in  his  sittings,  that  the  departed  spirit  is  in  a 
state  of  trance  or  of  partial  suffocation  or  of  dream,  and 
that  his  ravings  are  caught  by  the  controlling  spirit,  Rec- 
tor, who  then  affects  the  hand  of  the  entranced  medium, 
which  then  writes  imperfectly  the  imperfectly  heard  and 
imperfectly  spoken  message,  we  get  a  realising  sense  of  how 
little  the  theory  of  spirit  communication  has  in  it  of  real 
law  and  order.  Not  one  of  these  assumptions  will  ever  be 
capable  of  proof,  while,  from  our  standpoint,  nearly  all  of 
the  content  of  the  published  sittings  is  explicable  on  the 
theory  of  secondary  personality,  and  the  unexplained  re- 
mainder cannot  now  be  explained  only  because  the  sittings 
were  too  imporfectly  reported. 

But  science  is  new  and  faith  is  ancient.  The  roots  of 
these  beliefs  are  very  old,  and,  because  they  are,  they  can- 
not be  considered  unimportant.  Premonitions,  warnings, 
and  spirit  communications  have  always  played  a  part  in 
history  and  religion. 

The  progress  of  thought,  however,  has  always  been 
marked  by  the  fact  that  it  gives  new  meanings  to  ancient 
instincts  and  new  interpretations  to  common  facts.  Be- 
cause the  child  and  the  savage  of  to-day  at  some  time  in 
their  development  are  peculiarly  interested  by  the  reflec- 

378 


CONCLUSION 

tion  in  a  mirror,  and  look  upon  it  as  a  solid  object  or  as 
another  real  self,  we  do  not  conclude  that  the  reflection  is 
solid  and  alive.  We  know  how  it  is  made  and  the  insuffi- 
cient data  from  which  the  child  and  savage  reason. 

It  is  my  belief  that  Spiritism  and  telepathy  will  soon 
be  shown  to  be  parallel  cases.  Thoughts  have  always  been 
mysterious  things  to  men,  especially  when  they  rise  spon- 
taneously and  vividly,  as  in  hallucinations  and  dreams, 
seeming  to  be  independent  of  our  own  volition  and  to  pos- 
sess a  life  and  will  of  their  own.  As  long  as  their  origin 
is  not  known,  as  long  as  they  are  not  under  the  control 
either  of  the  person  in  whose  mind  they  appear  or  of  the 
physician  or  psychologist,  it  is  inevitable  that  many  people 
shall  consider  them  of  supernatural  origin  and  meaning. 

But  one  by  one  we  are  controlling  conditions.  We  no 
longer  consider  hysterieals  witches,  and  that  is  a  solid  gain. 
Many  secondary  personalities  have  been  reunited,  and  many 
other  incipient  ones  have  been  prevented  from  dividing, 
and,  with  increasing  familiarity,  such  phenomena  will  be 
recognised  as  not  opening  the  door  to  another  world  but 
rather  to  the  insane  asylum.^ 

Thought  coincidences  will  not  always  be  considered 
ominous  and  premonitory,  but  will  be  properly  placed  in 
their  setting  of  complex  associations,  and  instead  of  exalt- 
ing the  mysterious  as  supernatural  and  wonderful  in  pro- 
portion as  it  breaks  away  from  law  and  order,  we  shall  bow 
ever  more  reverently  before  the  truly  infinite  and  mys- 
terious— man's  soul  and  body  in  their  raarvelously  com- 
plex relations  to  each  other  and  to  others  of  their  own 
kind. 

An  appreciation  of  the  wonderful  complexity  and  deli- 
cacy of  our  psychical  processes  as  well  as  of  the  neural 
ones  underlying  them,  is  the  most  important  net  gain  re- 

1  Marcel  Viollet,  "  Le  Spiritiame  dans  sea  Rapports  avec  la  Folic," 
Paris,  1909,  pp.  121. 

379 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

suiting  from  all  these  studies  in  Psychical  Research.  As 
yet  we  stand  literally  only  at  the  locked  door  to  this  new 
world,  but  we  are  learning  the  combination,  manifold 
though  it  is.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  nervous  system 
— especially  the  brain — is  the  storehouse  of  all  the  experi- 
ences both  of  the  individual  and  the  race.  How  well  it  is 
fitted  for  this  we  can  realise  when  we  recall  that  at  a  mod- 
erate estimate  the  brain  contains  3,000  million  separate 
neurons,^  each  of  which  has  an  axis  cylinder  and  40  or 
less  dendrites  with  their  numerous  gemmules  to  connect  it 
with  other  neurons.  Changes  within  the  neuron  or  the  bed 
of  nervous  material  in  which  it  lies  make  or  break  its  con- 
nections with  other  neurons,  and  with  such  an  inconceivably 
large  number  of  them  the  possibilities  of  combination  are 
larger  stiU, 

Not  only  are  these  infinite  combinations  possible,  but 
nerve  cells  are  especially  qualified  to  be  the  bearers  of 
memory.  In  the  history  of  life  they  have  developed  from 
the  skin  or  outer  surface  of  the  living  organism,  which 
alone  comes  directly  into  contact  with  the  external  world, 
and  by  degrees  the  other  parts  of  the  body  have  surren- 
dered to  the  nerves  all  their  functions  of  feeling  and  re- 
sponding to  stimuli,  so  that  now  if  we  take  out  the  nerves 
from  any  part  of  the  body  that  part  lies  senseless  and 
motionless.  The  nerves,  then,  are  far  and  away  the  most 
impressionable  and  plastic  of  all  parts  of  the  body,  and 
at  the  same  time  they  retain  for  ever  the  changes  produced 
in  them.  How  this  is  done  we  do  not  know,  but  the  traces 
thus  left  are  called  engrams,  and  it  is  supposed  that  en- 
grams  exist  for  every  experience  through  which  any  one 
has  ever  gone.  Some  even  push  the  traces  further  back  and 
say  that  all  the  great  racial  experiences  likewise  persist  in 
the  individual,  and  appear  in  us  not  only  as  the  explana- 

1  Cf.  M.  Verworn,  "  AUgemeine  Physiologie,"  and  M.  Kassowitz, 
"  Nerven  und  Seek." 

380 


CONCLUSION 

tion  of  instinctive  acts  and  feelings — which  every  one 
admits  are  racial — but  also  as  the  cause  of  innumerable 
flitting  thoughts  and  impulses,  dreams,  abnormal  tenden- 
cies, etc. 

Without  irreverence  this  wonderful  creation  of  the 
great  Spirit  of  Life  may  be  compared  to  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem with  its  many  mansions,  and  its  beauties  which  eye 
hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard  nor  the  tongue  of  man  been 
able  to  declare.  It  reveals  glimpses  of  possibilities  in  de- 
velopment that  will  place  man  as  far  beyond  his  present 
state  as  he  now  is  beyond  the  simplest  protozoan.  It  opens 
to  the  most  abnormal  and  degenerate  the  door  of  hope, 
because,  however  bad  his  immediate  heredity  may  be  or 
his  circumstances,  the  very  fact  that  he  is  here  at  all  re- 
veals that  he  is  the  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  and  that — as  the  revivalists  are  always 
telling  us — he  need  only  knock  at  the  door  and  it  will  be 
opened  to  him,  or — as  some  are  putting  it  now — he  can 
draw  at  any  time  upon  the  store  of  infinite  energy  that  is 
stored  up  within  every  man.  This  conception  of  man  makes 
all  these  things  literally  true.  The  amount  of  chemical 
energy  stored  up  within  the  brain  is  beyond  calculation.  It 
staggers  figures.  Even  the  most  hard-working  genius  does 
not  one-millionth  part  of  what  his  brain  is  capable  of  doing, 
because  there  is  friction,  loss  of  connections,  etc.  Parts  of 
it  are  left  unused  and  other  parts  try  to  run  establishments 
of  their  own,  and  so  we  get  nerve  strain,  multiple  person- 
alities, and  abnormalities.  But  if  only  we  knew  the  way, 
we  could  knit  together  these  warring  factions  and  have  an 
army  against  which  nature  and  sin  and  disease  and  death 
itself  could  not  stand. 

Here  lies  the  true  mystery  of  the  world,  the  true 
riddle  of  the  Sphinx.  Here  will  be  the  next  great  con- 
quest over  nature,  the  next  victory  over  the  powers  of  evil 
and  superstition. 

But  though  the  mysterious  nature  of  thought  has  always 
381 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

favoured  belief  in  its  supernatural  nature  and  in  such 
things  as  Spiritism  and  telepathy,  they  have  been  still  more 
aided  by  the  personal  stake  that  every  man  has  in  the  game. 
G.  Stanley  Hall  has  said  that  perhaps  the  most  momentoas 
epoch  in  man's  psychical  development  came  when,  for  the 
first  time,  he  realised  that  he  must  die.  Then  there  must 
have  ensued  a  period  of  great  fear  and  anguish,  and  then 
imagination  and  reason,  aided  by  faith,  began  the  great 
work  of  speculation  as  to  the  course  of  events  after  death 
had  done  its  worst.  From  the  primitive  belief  that  the 
dead  man's  existence  is  proved  because  he  appears  in  a 
dream  to  the  pragmatic  belief  of  a  Kant  is  a  long  road, 
but  each  step  has  been  motivated  by  the  same  will-to-live, 
which  shapes  itself  in  multifarious  forms.  No  one  can  con- 
template with  composure  the  certain  prospect  that  some 
day  he  will  be  snuffed  out  into  the  darkness  like  a  candle, 
and  so  deep  is  our  horror  of  such  a  fate  that,  if  we  believed 
it  to  be  certain,  we  should  convict  the  universe  and  its 
Maker  of  the  grossest  injustice.  We  must  believe  that  our 
individual  attainments  and  strivings  and  personality  have 
a  permanent  place  in  the  universe  or  we  should  have  not 
the  heart  to  continue  striving. 

And  right  here  lies  the  kernel  of  all  our  belief  in  im- 
mortality. The  person  who  is  most  concerned  about  the 
future  life  is  not  the  one  who  has  always  been  prosperous 
and  successful,  with  means  and  children  and  fame  to  sat- 
isfy his  natural  desire  to  be  of  worth  and  value.  It  is 
always  the  one  who  has  had  brought  home  to  him  forcibly 
and  painfully  the  limitations  of  his  present  self  and  life, 
and  it  is  at  the  time  that  such  limitations  are  the  most 
felt  that  the  belief  in  immortality  grows  strongest,  both 
in  the  individual  and  in  a  given  generation.  Probably 
there  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  mankind  when  the 
other  world  was  so  close  to  man  as  in  the  Dark  and  Middle 
Ages  in  Europe,  during  and  after  the  great  migrations. 
Not  only  was  no  man  sure  of  his  own  property,  family,  or 

382 


CONCLUSION 

life,  but  the  end  of  the  world  was  expected  every  year,  and 
almost  every  month.  Then  it  became  of  fundamental  im- 
portance to  men  to  obtain  knowledge  of  the  life  to  come, 
while  this  life  sank  into  insignificance.  So  we  find  not  only 
elaborate  beliefs  worked  out  by  the  Church,  of  hierarchies 
of  angels,  saints,  pope,  and  priests,  through  whose  medi- 
ation the  sinful  soul  makes  its  peace  with  God,  but  also  a 
luxuriant  growth  of  beliefs  in  demons  and  in  magic,  in 
incantations  and  witchcraft.  On  the  other  side  was  an 
equally  great  neglect  of  this  life.  The  purest  blood  and  the 
greatest  minds  of  Christendom  for  the  most  part  were  ster- 
ile in  monasteries  and  nunneries,  while  the  common  people 
died  in  swarms  through  ignorance  of  how  to  prevent  star- 
vation and  epidemics.  While  a  few  master  minds  like 
Charlemagne,  in  statecraft,  and  Roger  Bacon,  in  science, 
devoted  themselves  to  bringing  order  out  of  the  chaos  in 
society  and  thought,  most  men  were  overwhelmed  by  the 
existent  disorder,  and,  hopeless  of  overcoming  it,  convinced 
of  their  powerlessness  to  remove  it,  took  refuge  in  dreams 
of  a  perfect  life  beyond  the  grave. 

The  unprecedented  spread  of  Spiritism  in  this  country 
and  England  since  1848  doubtless  has  its  roots  in  the  same 
motives.  Here  on  the  one  side  we  have  profound  changes 
in  daily  living  and  man's  relations  to  Nature,  and,  on  the 
other,  a  Protestant  Church  indescribably  dogmatic.  Never 
since  history  began  has  ,there  been  an  era  so  full  of  great 
inventions,  which  revolutionised  not  only  the  life  of  every 
individual  man  but  his  relations  to  other  men,  profoundly 
altering  the  very  structure  of  society.  It  has  been  said  that 
our  Republic  could  never  have  remained  a  fact  had  not 
the  railroad  come  into  existence,  and  the  possibilities  cre- 
ated by  the  railroad  were  still  further  enlarged  by  the 
steamboat,  telegraph,  and  telephone.  The  great  inventions 
in  machinery,  such  as  the  sewing-machine,  the  modern 
printing-press,  and  agricultural  machinery,  the  invention 
of  the  kerosene  lamp,  and  the  later  use  of  gas  and  electric- 

383 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

ity — these  and  many  others  opened  such  vistas  before  the 
imagination  of  men  that  he  was  narrow  and  hide-boimd 
who  dared  to  say  that  anything  was  impossible. 

In  the  scientific  world  we  wull  refer  only  to  three  great 
hypotheses  which  transformed  nature  for  man:  Laplace's 
nebular  hypothesis,  the  systematic  arrangement  of  the  geo- 
logical records  to  show  the  continuous  development  of 
life,  and  the  theory  of  evolution.  Minds  which  had  once 
grasped  these  and  gained  the  illuminating  conception  of 
the  complete  continuity  of  the  universe  from  primeval 
chaos  to  the  present  time,  and  from  the  simplest  life  to 
man,  could  never  return  to  the  provincial  religious  view 
of  man. 

But  coincident  with  this  wonderful  advance  in  scientific 
theory  and  in  daily  living,  we  find  a  Protestant  Church 
which,  after  the  Reformation,  had  settled  into  a  dogmatism 
quite  as  narrow  as  that  against  which  it  had  protested. 
Many  of  the  clergy  condemned  even  inventions  like  the 
steam-engine  and  the  telegraph,  while  practically  the  whole 
church  rose  up  unanimously  against  all  forms  of  the  evo- 
lutionary theory.  The  conflict  thus  precipitated  between 
science  and  religion  led  to  probably  more  speculation  and 
reshaping  of  religious  ideas  than  at  any  time  since  the  days 
of  Luther  and  Melanchthon.  But  at  this  modern  time  no 
great  leaders  like  them  arose  to  keep  the  people  out  of  the 
mire.  In  our  country  culture  was  at  its  lowest  ebb,  the 
clergy,  who  should  have  guided  the  people  aright,  alienated 
them  by  their  severe  doctrines  and  lack  of  sympathy  with 
the  great  trend  of  events,  and  so  these  alienated  ones,  un- 
trained in  thought,  and  yet  realising  the  empty  bottles  of 
the  old  doctrines,  wandered  everywhere  in  search  of  spir- 
itual food.  The  closing  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century 
witnessed  the  amazing  spectacle  of  unprecedented  advances 
in  invention  and  science  going  on  simultaneously  with  the 
spread  of  gross  superstitions  such  as  Mormonism,  occultism 
in  various  forms,  theosophy,  Dowieism,  Christian  Science, 

384 


CONCLUSION 

and  Spiritism.  Other  doubters  took  refuge  from  tlie  chaos 
resulting  from  breaking  up  their  old  religious  beliefs  and 
views  of  nature  in  unquestioning  faith  and  submission  to 
external  authority,  tending  especially  to  join  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

If  we  add  to  these  general  considerations  more  particu- 
lar ones  which  frequently  are  present,  we  get  a  still  more 
complete  explanation  of  the  influence  of  Spiritism.  Do  not 
persons  turn  to  Spiritism  when  they  find  the  present  life 
too  overpowering?  There  may  be  many  causes  of  this. 
One  of  the  most  common  is  the  loss  of  some  beloved  one 
on  whom  there  has  always  been  dependence  not  only  for 
material  support,  but  for  comfort  and  encouragement. 
Another  cause  is  some  sort  of  failure  which  makes  the  per- 
son question  his  own  worth.  Or,  again,  the  loss  of 
confidence  in  one's  religious  beliefs,  especially  if  the 
pastor  to  whom  the  person  turns  for  help  cannot  give 
help,  may  be  the  cause.  Or,  again,  merely  prolonged  ill 
health  with  the  sense  of  inefficiency  accompanying  it  may 
be  a  cause. 

In  all  such  cases  and  any  others  where  the  person  feels 
himself  unable  to  cope  with  life,  and  where  he  has  a  re- 
ligious nature,  he  may  turn  to  the  medium  or  fortune-teller 
for  aid.  Originally,  ho  may  not  have  any  well-defined  be- 
lief in  them,  but  he  must  have  help  and  comfort,  and  thinks 
that  at  least  no  harm  can  come  from  consultation,  while 
some  good  may.  Going  in  this  depressed  state  of  mind, 
with  the  critical  powers  more  or  less  in  abeyance,  and  with 
the  need  of  comfort  and  help  the  most  prominent  thing, 
the  chances  are  good  that  the  medium  can  establish  a  sym- 
pathetic relation,  and  that  she  may  make  statements  which 
"will  assume  deep  meaning  to  the  sitter. 

It  would  be  well  worth  while  to  issue  a  questionnaire 
on  the  conditions  under  which  mediums  and  fortune-tellers 
are  first  sought,  and  why  they  were  later  dropped  or  con- 
tinued. 

385 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

But  the  vicious  outcome  of  this  particular  form  of  other- 
worldliness  consists  in  this,  that  the  person  who  takes  ref- 
uge in  Spiritism  from  life  is  not  healed  and  made  strong, 
and  sent  back  with  fresh  courage,  but  is  made  more  and 
more  dependent  upon  the  medium.  Instead  of  being  made 
to  realise  the  beauty  and  value  of  the  present  life  and  its 
ties,  he  is  taught  to  yearn  for  those  who  are  irrevocably 
dead  and  gone.  He  is  brought  back  again  and  again  for 
business  advice,  for  health  diagnoses,  and  for  any  pretext 
that  will  secure  more  sittings.  Instead  of  having  his  re- 
ligious faith  broadened  and  developed,  his  sense  of  law 
heightened,  and  his  whole  nature  deepened  by  large  and 
ennobling  conceptions,  he  is  given  grotesque,  belittling,  and 
useless  ideas  of  all  things  spiritual.  His  ideas  of  law  and 
order  are  hopelessly  broken  up,  and  his  moral  and  intel- 
lectual world-view  becomes  very  similar  to  that  of  the  Dark 
Ages.  Instead  of  getting  inspiration  from  the  great  lead- 
ers of  the  world,  men  like  Plato,  Newton,  Darwin,  Kant, 
Luther,  St.  Francis,  and  Christ,  these  poor  souls  seek  it 
in  the  trance  utterances  of  an  uneducated  and  usually 
common-minded,  if  not  vulgar-minded,  medium.  Instead 
of  being  led  into  the  fight  for  personal  and  social  righteous- 
ness by  devoted  leaders  of  their  own  time,  they  are  poring 
over  the  scrawls  of  an  automatic  hand.  To  the  serious- 
minded  person  nothing  could  well  be  more  appalling  than 
the  sort  of  book  recently  published  by  Miss  Anne  M.  Rob- 
bins,  entitled  "  Both  Sides  of  the  Veil."  Feeling,  in  the 
first  place,  the  need  of  justifying  her  own  sanity  to  her 
readers,  she  carefully  explains  who  she  is  and  the  positions 
of  trust  that  she  has  held,  and  then  gives,  with  the  most 
pathetic  faith  in  their  inspiring  power,  the  account  of  her 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper,  in  which  her  dead  employer  was 
the  controlling  spirit.  Indeed,  the  implication  is  that  he 
was  co-author  with  her,  and  that,  therefore,  the  work  must 
be  almost  sacred.  Specimens  of  his  most  moving  utterances 
are  given  in  order  to  show  that  it  is  not  just  to  criticise 

386 


CONCLUSION 

Spiritism  as  dealing  only  with  trivial  things.  But  if  these 
are  typical  inspirations,  what  must  the  average  be?  Such 
banalities,  such  bathos  would  disgrace  the  pulpit  of  the 
most  commonplace  backwoods  preacher.  As  one  closes  the 
book  one  cannot  but  ask  one's  self  in  amazement  and  pity, 
what  must  have  been  the  surroundings  and  training  of  a 
person  who  can  find  in  this  sort  of  thing  the  highest  to 
which  she  has  yet  attained?  What  a  starved,  darkened, 
lonely,  and  uninspired  life  must  have  been  hers !  And  yet 
she  was  living  in  Boston  and  coming  into  external  contact, 
at  least  to  some  degree,  with  men  in  public  affairs.  How 
came  it  about  that  she  was  thus  marooned  spiritually? 
Where  is  the  fault?  What  is  the  essential  lack  in  our 
life  to-day  that  Spiritism  can  make  such  an  appeal  as 
it  does? 

Nobody  knows  just  how  many  Spiritists  there  are  in 
this  country,  but  they  are  conservatively  estimated  at  about 
a  million.  Such  a  number  challenges  respect  merely  as  a 
number.  It  shows  that  these  million  souls  find  something 
satisfying  in  this  faith,  which  nothing  else  in  their  sur- 
roundings gives.  Where  the  case  is  so  complex  as  here, 
one  offers  theories  with  humility,  and  so  I  will  put  mine 
in  the  form  of  a  question.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the  Prot- 
estant Church  is  failing  to  satisfy  the  personal  and  mys- 
tical religious  sides  of  our  nature?  Is  it  not  too  intellectual 
and  gesthetic  and  practical?  One  would  not  depreciate  but 
would  enlarge  the  work  now  so  well  begun  along  the  lines 
of  the  institutional  church,  the  beautifying  of  the  service 
and  the  building,  and  the  steady  advance  toward  less 
dogma.  But  one  cannot  escape  the  feeling  that  in  doing 
these  things,  others  are  being  left  undone.  ]\Iore  than  upon 
anything  else  the  religious  nature  feeds  upon  wonder  and 
faith,  and  needs  an  abiding  sense  of  a  ^'^tal  relationship 
with  an  immanent  Divine  Presence.  This  is  essentially  mys- 
tical— whatever  that  may  mean — and  the  means  of  attain- 
ing it  should  be  given  the  most  careful  study.     Any  service 

387 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

which  does  not  contain  some  element  that  brings  this  sense 
of  uplift  and  communion  to  the  worshipper  is  a  failure  so 
far  as  he  is  concerned. 

Again,  do  not  many  modern  pastors  shrink  from  the 
pastoral  part  of  their  work  ?  In  almost  every  family  there 
comes  at  some  time  a  crisis  in  which  no  other  member  of  the 
family  can  well  be  consulted,  and  yet  the  person  most  con- 
cerned— husband,  wife,  or  child — ^sadly  needs  advice.  What 
is  to  be  done  1  We  may  think  that  the  best  thing  is  for  him 
to  keep  family  troubles  to  himself,  but,  practically,  few 
people  are  able  to  do  that.  They  want  sympathy  or  advice 
or  both.  Usually  the  case  is  a  delicate  one.  Surely  in 
such  cases  the  best  person  to  talk  to  would  be  a  ''  man  of 
God,"  who  would  treat  the  appeal  as  if  it  were  given  in 
the  confessional.  But,  far  from  doing  this,  many  a  pastor 
will  not  take  the  responsibility  for  giving  advice,  and  does 
not  allow  such  appeals.  But  to  whom  else  can  people  go? 
They  do  go  to  the  medium  and  give  themselves  into  her 
power,  or  their  trouble  becomes  common  talk  because  they 
have  confided  in  some  unwise  person,  or  they  grow  bitter 
and  isolated,  while  if  the  minister  could  but  rise  to  the  occa- 
sion and  dare  to  take  the  responsibility  he  might  save  the 
happiness  of  the  family. 

In  order  to  deprive  Spiritism  of  its  present  influence, 
then — as  well  as  various  other  modern  superstitions — it  is 
not  sufficient  to  discredit  it  intellectually.  No  faith  dies 
because  it  is  unreasonable,  but  only  because  the  instincts 
which  it  has  satisfied  find  more  complete  and  permanent 
gratification  in  other  directions.  Belief  in  spirit  communi- 
cation flourishes  to-day,  and  mediums  wax  and  grow  fat,  (1) 
because  large  numbers  of  persons  have  no  one  to  whom  they 
can  confide  their  secrets  and  sins,  to  whom  they  can  go 
confidently  for  comfort  and  encouragement;  (2)  because 
many  people  have  to-day  no  adequate  object — religious,  sci- 
entific, or  artistic — on  which  to  expend  love,  reverence,  and 
worship.     These  deep  and  basal  emotions  therefore  mani- 

388 


CONCLUSION 

fest  themselves  in  many  abnormal  ways,  of  which  this  is 
only  one.  But  in  proportion  as  man  draws  near  to  his 
fellow-man,  and  in  proportion  as  he  works  for  and  with 
him,  he  realises  that  the  "  other  side  "  can  wait  till  the 
morrow,  while  salvation  is  here  and  now. 


APPENDIX 


Coming  to  hand  too  late  to  be  inserted  in  the  body  of  the 
book,  are  the  latest  published  experiments  with  Mrs.  Piper, 
which  appeared  in  Proceedings,  Vol.  XXIV,  March,  1910. 
Here  also  are  given  some  additional  cross-correspondences  from 
Mrs.  Holland,  and  further  remarks  and  elucidations  of  the 
previous  cross-correspondences. 

In  the  Piper  experiments,  the  control  is  usually  Myers, 
and  the  content  of  the  sittings  is  chiefly  concerned  with 
classical  allusions,  some  of  which  are  attempted  translations 
of  Latin  and  others  cross-correspondences. 

Of  the  cross-correspondences  both  with  Mrs.  Piper  and 
Mrs.  Holland,  I  will  give  no  new  examples,  as  neither  the 
type  nor  method  of  interpretation  is  different  from  those  al- 
ready given.  In  the  most  complex  one,  "  Sevens,"  in  which 
six  automatists  and  Mr.  Piddington  are  supposed  to  be  in- 
volved, the  twenty-five  dates  on  which  references  occurred  ran 
from  July  13,  1904,  to  January  27,  1909,  and,  the  chief  idea 
being  the  number  seven,  the  reader  can  judge  how  far  such 
a  reference  necessitates  the  assumption  of  a  spirit  to  give  it. 

With  regard  to  the  classical  allusions  and  attempts  at 
translation  of  familiar  Latin  phrases  such  as  "  arma  virumque 
cano"  the  whole  plausibility  of  the  theory  that  Myers  is 
communicating  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  Mrs.  Piper  is 
absolutely  ignorant  of  Latin  and  of  these  allusions.  Mr.  Pid- 
dington has  made  out  a  good  case  for  his  belief  that  the 
group  of  allusions  is  of  such  a  character  that  it  probably  was 
recalled  by  some  one  with  a  knowledge  of  Ovid's  "  Meta- 
morphoses," Books  X  and  XI,  for  all  the  allusions  are  found 
there,  although  there  are  others  in  the  Ovid  not  given  in  the 
sittings.     Granting  this  assumption,   we  have  then  the  ques- 

390 


APPENDIX 

tion  of  whether  Mrs.  Piper  could  have  a  knowledge  of  this 
part  of  Ovid. 

To  discover  whether  she  had  such  knowledge,  Mr.  Dorr 
first  questioned  her  as  to  whether  the  names,  "  Morpheus," 
"  Cave  of  Sleep,"  "  Iris,"  "  Ovid,"  etc.,  had  any  meaning  to 
her,  receiving  in  every  case  a  profession  of  complete  ignorance. 
On  another  occasion,  apparently  after  this  conversation,  Mr. 
Dorr  examined  all  the  books  in  Mrs.  Piper's  apartment,  but 
found  none  bearing  upon  myth  or  the  classics,  and  he  is, 
besides,  certain  that  she  has  no  classical  knowledge  "  from 
the  improbability  of  it — a  point  which  I  can  better  appreciate, 
as  an  American,  than  you  in  England.  People  do  not  read 
these  things  out  here." 

This,  Mr.  Piddington  believes,  absolutely  disposes  of  the 
possibility  of  Mrs.  Piper  knowing  these  things,  although  he 
knows  that  Bulfinch's  "  Age  of  Fable  "  and  Gayley's  "  Classical 
Myths,"  with  the  former  of  which  one  of  Mrs.  Piper's  daugh- 
ters admitted  being  familiar,  contain  the  most  essential  parts 
of  the  references  in  question.  He  does  not  seem  to  con- 
sider it  possible  that  while  the  daughter  was  referring  to  this 
book  in  the  course  of  her  school  training,  she  might  have 
talked  over  the  myths  at  home,  and  the  information  so  ob- 
tained have  sunk  below  the  level  of  Mrs.  Piper's  conscious 
memory.  Neither  does  he  consider  what  to  me  seems  the  more 
likely  theory,  which  Mrs.  Verrall  (p.  43)  refers  to  thus: 
"  But  it  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  no  trace  of  what  has  been 
said  to  the  trance-personalities  reaches  Mrs.  Piper's  normal 
mind,  and  a  vague  recollection  might  suffice  to  draw  her  at- 
tention to  a  particular  subject,  and  so  focus  her  recollections 
or  increase  her  information  before  the  next  sitting.  The 
longer  the  interval  between  the  first  question  and  the  final 
answer,  the  more  chance  there  is  of  hints  being  obtained 
from  Mr.  Dorr's  manner."  This  interval  was  usually  days, 
and  frequently  weeks,  and  when  we  add  to  the  possibility 
of  vague  memories  persisting  from  the  trance  to  the  normal, 
the  other  one  of  ideas  given  in  the  trance  suddenly  popping 
up  or  breaking  into  the  normal  waking  state  as  if  spontane- 
ous, attracting  Mrs.  Piper's  attention,  and  leading  to  reflect- 
ing on  them,  if  not  to  looking  up  the  words  so  appearing, 

391 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

we  have,  it  seems  to  me,  as  plausible  an  explariation  of  the 
source  of  the  content  of  the  sittings  as  the  theory  of  de- 
parted spirits. 

Again,  the  method,  followed  here  and  in  various  other 
reports,  of  giving  only  the  supposedly  significant  portions  of 
the  sitting,  tends  to  give  the  reader  a  wrong  impression  of 
the  proportion  of  significant  incidents  to  mistakes  and  non- 
sense, and  in  some  instances  it  also  results  in  the  omission 
of  portions  which,  to  the  psychologist,  are  important  as  giv- 
ing a  natural  explanation  of  some  allusions.  At  the  time 
these  sittings  were  going  on,  Mr.  Dorr  was  kind  enough  to 
allow  Dr.  Hall  and  myself  to  see  the  notes,  and  I  made  rather 
full  notes  and  comments  on  them.  My  notes  on  the  "  Discus  " 
incident  (pp.  106-113)  run  thus :  "  Here  again  we  see  plainly 
the  working  of  suggestion  both  on  the  positive  and  negative 
sides.  At  first  Mr.  Dorr  tells  the  control  that  there  is  a 
legend  connected  with  the  words,  '  Discus  hit  me,'  and  the 
control  tries  to  connect  this  with  Marathon,  until  Mr.  Dorr 
indicates  by  the  words,  '  By  wrestling  you  mean  struggle,'  that 
Marathon  was  connected  with  a  battlefield. 

"  The  first  reference  to  the  flower  coming  from  a  drop  of 
blood  may  also  have  been  suggested  by  the  struggle  which  the 
control  was  having  just  at  this  time  to  work  out  the  story  of 
Perseus  carrying  Medusa's  head,  dripping  blood,  and  refer- 
ence had  already  been  made  to  the  legend  that  Pegasus  sprang 
from  its  blood.  The  reference  to  a  flower  springing  also 
from  blood  might  thus  have  come  up  as  a  vague  memory, 
evidently  very  vague,  however,  for  when  this  utterance  was 
brought  up  at  the  next  sitting  the  control  connected  the 
flower  with  Prometheus.  He  was  told  that  this  was  wrong, 
and  the  following  day  connected  it  with  Anchises's  funeral. 
Again  he  was  told  that  it  was  wrong,  and  when  he  said  the 
flower  was  a  lily,  was  told  that  that,  also,  was  wrong.  Then, 
after  a  week's  thought,  he  gave  the  word,  '  Hyacinthus,'  spon- 
taneously. 

"  What  happened  during  that  week  ?  What  inherent  im- 
probability is  there  in  assuming  that  Mrs.  Piper  had  once 
known  the  story  of  Hyacinthus,  and  that  the  repeated  prod- 
dings  had  finally  aroused  the  dormant  memories  ? " 

392 


APPENDIX 

These  sittings  swarm  with  favourable  interpretations  of 
ambiguities,  and  help  and  suggestion  from  Mr.  Dorr,  who 
constantly  offers  explanations  of  disjointed  words  and  phrases 
as  answers  to  questions  he  had  previously  asked.  For  instance, 
in  one  sitting  Mr.  Dorr  gives  the  word,  "  Aphrodite,"  and  asks 
if  it  recalls  anything,  to  which  the  hand  responds,  "  Queen. 
Verdure.  Yes — Light — no,  am  thinking  of  Proserpine. 
Aphrodite.  Juno's  child.  Goddess.  (But  scratches  this  out.) 
Niobe-Water  Drowned."  Here  Mr.  Dorr  interrupts,  showing 
that  these  are  all  wrong,  and  tells  him  to  leave  this  now. 
Then  the  control  continues,  "  Yes,  I  know,  beautiful.  Beau- 
tiful." 

Mr.  Dorr  approves  this  and  tells  him  he  has  given  the 
answer,  but  if  Mr.  Dorr  had  said  nothing,  would  the  control 
not  have  continued  his  fishing?  Why  should  this  one  chance 
hit  be  considered  so  remarkable  after  all  the  previous  misses? 

And  so  we  might  continue  through  the  many  details,  but 
we  should  find  only  the  same  methods  everywhere,  the  control 
being  given  every  possible  favourable  interpretation,  his  inter- 
jected words  and  phrases  supplied  with  setting,  and  so  on. 

To  sum  up  briefly,  then,  the  cross-correspondences  and  the 
translations  of  Latin  are  defective  evidentially,  especially  in 
the  following  respects: 

1.  No  real  proof  has  been  supplied  that  Mrs.  Piper  her- 
self may  not  have  in  the  depths  of  her  sub-conscious  self 
sufficient  classical  knowledge  to  give  the  allusions  of  the  sit- 
tings ;  or,  if  not  that,  no  proof  has  yet  been  adduced  to  show 
that  memories  of  the  trance  can  never  appear  as  spontaneous 
ideas  in  the  normal  state  and  lead  to  the  gaining  of  informa- 
tion  about   them. 

2.  No  words  or  phrases  can  be  considered  evidential  of 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  control  when  the  sitter  explains 
and  gives  them  settings.  Whenever  disjointed  words  occur 
in  a  sitting,  they  are  valueless  until  the  control  himself  takes 
them  up  spontaneously  and  explains  them. 

3.  The  exijerimenters  in  this  field  ignore  the  association 
of  ideas,  especially  in  two  directions: 

(a)  They  do  not  seem  to  appreciate  how  much  similarity 
exists   between   many   Latin   words   and   their   English   equiv- 
28  393 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

alents,  and  how  relatively  easy  it  would  be,  under  their  con- 
ditions of  sympathetic  interpretation  and  aid,  for  any  person 
totally  ignorant  of  the  language  to  reach  some  idea  of  the 
meaning  of  a  given  passage. 

(&)  Still  less  do  they  seem  to  appreciate  how  impossible  it 
is  to  lay  down  any  law  of  probabilities  as  to  a  given  idea  being 
in  the  minds  of  any  two  given  people  within  a  given  length 
of  time.  As  far  as  our  definite  knowledge  does  go,  it  shows 
that  we  have  many  more  common  ideas  than  has  been  sup- 
posed, and  creates  the  presumption  that  people  of  similar 
interests  and  education  would  have  very  many  common  ideas. 
This  presumption,  combined  with  the  highly  ambiguous  and 
far  fetched  character  of  many  of  the  cross-correspondences, 
renders  the  assumption  of  a  conununicating  spirit  to  account 
for  them  at  least  somewhat  premature.  We  have  very  far  to 
go  in  the  studying  of  normal  associations  before  naturalistic 
explanations  can  be  exhausted  and  a  supernaturalistic  one 
so  much  as  be  considered  desirable. 


n 


The  following  list  gives  in  the  first  row  the  word  chosen  for 
the  test ;  in  the  second,  the  reactions  in  the  trance  state,  and 
in  the  third,  the  reactions  after  the  trance.  The  numbers  after 
this  list  indicate  the  number  of  seconds  before  the  reaction. 
These  are  all  enormously  lengthened,  since  Mrs.  Piper  waa 
still  rather  sleepy,  the  average  reaction  time  for  free  associations 
being  usually  estimated  at  only  1.5-2.5  seconds. 


Test  Word. 

Control. 

Normal. 

1.  boy 

brother 

(1) 

2.  cat 

mew 

trap 

(5) 

3.  man 

woman 

woman 

(6) 

4.  wife 

husband 

child 

(16) 

5.  baby 

mother 

child 

(9) 

6.  cradle 

top 

rocking 

(6) 

7.  creep 

walk 

walk 

(7) 

8.  chloroform 

ether 

insensible 

(17) 

9.  fur 

coat 

furrier 

(8) 

10.  cape 

hat 

hood 

(7) 

11.  sick 

well 

morbid 

(8) 

12.  surgeon 

doctor 

nurse 

(12) 

13.  sweep 

clean 

sweeping 

(4) 

14.  wash 

iron 

laundry 

(6) 

15.  hair 

comb 

head 

(5) 

16.  nurse 

doctor 

ill 

(9) 

17.  cuffs 

button 

arm 

(5) 

18.  tumour 

cancer 

disease 

(4) 

19.  knife 

rancour  ? 

fork 

(4) 

20.  table 

chair 

book 

(9) 

21.  write 

wrong 

pencil 

(7) 

22.  scar 

burn 

cut 

(18) 

(  Nothing. 

Laugh.    "  Let  me  see. 

") 

395 

STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 


Test  Word. 

Control. 

Normal. 

23. 

milk 

water 

drink 

(8) 

24. 

spirit 

angel 

dead 

(29) 

(Laugh.     Spirit 

laughs  slow.     " 

Spirit 

is  a  good 

subject.") 

25. 

ghost 

spook 

ghostly 

(T) 

26. 

Myers 

heaven 

lEngland 
(Hodgson.) 

(7) 

27. 

Easter 

cross 

Sunday 

(8) 

28. 

Latin 

Greek 

college 

(10) 

29. 

priest 
(Pause.) 

clergyman 

bishop 

(3) 

30. 

doctor 

nurse 

(8) 

31. 

party 

(Eepetition.) 

dancing 

gathering 

(12) 

32. 

call 

(Pause.) 

going 

bell 

(10) 

33. 

present 

absent 

gift 

(7) 

34. 

sex 

abuse?  corse? 

(25) 

("  Not  a  thought 

";  Given  up.) 

35. 

shop 

blacksmith 

(10) 

(Note. — With  the  control  No.  36  was  given  before  No.  35  and 

just  after  No.  34.) 
36.  Christmas  box  in  play  Christ  (2) 


(Quite  a  long 

'  pause  and  slow  writing.) 

(Note. — A  second  No.  36  given  to  the  control  which  seems  to 

be  Sunday.) 

37.  dear 

doe                                  running 

(4) 

38.  honey 

bee                                   hive 

(7) 

(Repetition. 

Hand  writes  what.) 

39.  court 

courting                         house 

(11) 

40.  snake 

wasp                               spider 

(6) 

41.  mouse 

cat                                   mouse-trap 

(7) 

42.  egg 

hen                                  breakfast 

(8) 

43.  marriage 

union                              "  Doesn't  come 

» 

(Long  pause. 

Repetition.     "  Spell  it") 

44.  sleep 

insomnia                        bed 

(6) 

(Repetition. 

Pause.) 

396 

I; 


APPENDIX 


(Note. — With  the  control  No.  45  was 

given  before  No 

.  44  and 

just  after  No.  43.) 

46.  death 

life 

(Idea  came 

but  was 

lost  immediately.) 

46.  dream 

wandering 

(Pause.) 

47.  wake 

(Repetition. 

Pause.) 

48.  snore 

sleep 

49.  bed 

lie 

dead 

(6) 

50.  cut 

wound 

51.  bandage 

untie 

accident 

(9) 

52.  Hyslop 

James 

psychical  research 

(4) 

53.  James 

weeping  or  creeping     professor 

(4) 

(Pause.     Slow  writing.) 

54.  walk 

run 

automobile 

(8) 

("  That's  funny.") 

55.  tie 

untie 

(9) 

56.  diamond 

ruby 

mine 

(7) 

57.  Dorr 

Hello,  George 

door 

(9) 

58.  Hall 

assembly 

(6) 

(Pause.) 

59.  eyes 

ears 

glasses 

60.  ring 

hand 

bell 

(4) 

61.  red 

Reding 

book 

(4) 

62.  green 

black 

blue 

(8) 

63.  wedding 

feasting 

(14) 

(Repetition. 

Pause.) 

64.  daughter 

son 

sister 

(4) 

65.  medicine 

hospital 

chest 

(3) 

66.  love 

glory 

marriage 

(4) 

(Slow.) 

67.  lamb 

horse 

sheep 

(3) 

68.  kiss 

shake 

("  Mr.  Dorr's 

asleep."     No  reaction.) 

397 

STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 


Test  Word. 

Control. 

Normal. 

69.  lie 

truth 

lying 

(6) 

70.  Moses 

Aaron 

commandments 

(8) 

(Slow.) 

71.  Lodge 

science 

Oliver 

(17) 

(Kepetition. 

Slow.) 

(Dr.  Hall  says  no 

hurry.) 

72.  dance 

joy 

(8) 

73.  book 

wake 

read 

(3) 

(Pause. 

Slow.) 

74.  trance 

dance 

sleep 

(3) 

75.  music 

playing 

(8) 

76.  think 

thinking 

(4) 

77.  dress 

down 

(10) 

(Pause. 

Repetition.     Slow.) 

78.  hot 

head 

breath 

(8) 

(Repetition. 

Slow.) 

79.  shoe 

foot 

foot 

(3) 

80.  finger 

hand 

hand 

(3) 

(Repetition.) 

81.  figure 

(7) 

82.  read 

book 

book 

(2) 

83.  test 

testing 

(9) 

84.  mask 

artist  festival 

face 

(3) 

(Pause. 

Slow.) 

85.  lips 

face 

(5) 

(Repetition. 

Spelling.) 

86.  teeth 

mouth 

dentist 

(3) 

(Repetition.) 

87.  organs 

heart 

(7) 

(Pause. 

Slow.) 

88.  stomach 

back 

head 

(3) 

89.  pain 

ache 

(9) 

90.  home 

houses 

country 

(6) 

(Spell. 

Slow.) 

91.  mother 

father 

father 

(5) 

92.  divorce 

bad 

separation 

(5) 

93.  church 

Lord 

steeple 

(4) 

(Pause.] 

) 

"Isn't  that  funny?" 

398 


APPENDIX 

Test  Word. 

Control. 

Normal. 

94.  smoke 

fire 

burn 

(10) 

(Repetition. 

Pause.) 

95.  fire 

burn 

(9) 

96.  funeral 

cortege 

death 

(«) 

97.  grave 

clay 

(Image 
ers.) 

of 

flow- 
(8) 

98.  blood 

water 

(9) 

Repetition. 
99.  kill 

(Pause.) 

100.  toilet 

(Repetition. 

101.  fear 

(Repetition.) 

102.  angry 

103.  jealous 

104.  awake 

105.  cruel 


106.  poor 

107.  money 

108.  servant 

109.  God 

110.  medium 

(Repetition. 

111.  


Spelling, 
horrible 


Pause.) 


(9) 


Spelling, 
harm 

peace 
no  use 
good-day 
bad 


splendid 

fault 

good 

amen 

Piper 

Spelling. 


towel  (9) 

Slowest  of  the  writing.) 

run  (5) 


vexed 

0) 

(9) 

morning 

(10) 

sword 

(6) 

(Said  it  as  if 

'  em- 

barrassed.) 

mean 

(9) 

pocket 

(7) 

help 

(2) 

heaven 

(3) 

(13) 

Repetition.) 


112.  honest 

(Spell. 

113.  swoon 

114.  limb 


good 
Repetition.) 
faint 
tree 


honesty 

faint 
back 


(Repetition. 

115.  Annie 

116.  Eva 


Spell.     Slow.) 
Horace 
my  sister 


(4) 

(4) 
(6) 

(6) 
(6) 


Let  us  examine  these  with  some  care.  In  the  group  of  words 
•with  possible  sex  reference  there  are  nineteen  words.  Of  these 
nineteen,  but  five — sex,  marriage,  wedding,  man,  and  divorce — ■ 

399 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

could  not  fail  to  have  sex  reference.  All  the  others,  fourteen 
in  number,  might  have  other  references,  and  most  of  them 
might  have  several  others.  Nevertheless,  ten  of  them  are  given 
as  sex  reference,  or  there  is  no  reaction  or  a  pause.  We  should 
expect  the  reaction  to  sex  to  be  slow  in  the  normal  state  at 
least,  but  why  should  there  be  no  reactions  to  such  words  as 
lips,  figure,  dress,  unless  there  is  some  strong  and  suppressed 
undercurrent  of  feeling? 

It  is  also  very  noticeable  that  out  of  these  fourteen  sex 
references  made  in  the  normal  state,  thirteen  are  also  given  in 
the  trance,  and  one  not  given  in  the  normal  as  referring  to 
sex  is  in  the  trance.  That  is,  the  sex  references  in  the  two 
states  are  nearly  identical  as  to  the  test  words.  But  in  the 
trance,  reactions  are  given  in  every  case,  while  in  the  normal 
no  associations  are  given  in  ten  cases,  Mrs.  Piper  saying  that 
no  word  would  come.  In  many  of  the  trance  reactions  the 
word  given  is  not  one  referring  to  sex,  but  the  hand  paused 
before  writing,  showing  a  lengthened  reaction.  This  pause 
occurred  in  eight  cases,  some  of  them  long  pauses. 

The  group  of  words  relating  to  operations  is  not  so  signifi- 
cant. In  five  instances  the  normal  reaction  is  either  slow  or 
not  given,  while  in  seven  it  was  given  quickly.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  here  that  tumour,  Vhich  referred  most  directly 
to  Mrs.  Piper's  own  experience,  had  a  quick  reaction,  while 
the  words  chloroform,  scar,  cut,  and  pain,  referring  to  the  feel- 
ing side  of  the  experience,  had  the  longest  reactions  or  none  at 
all.  One  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  words  cut  and  scar  called 
up  in  her  mind  the  cut  and  scar  of  the  operation,  and  that  the 
reaction  of  eighteen  seconds  to  scar,  and  of  none  at  all  to  cut, 
was  because  she  did  not  wish  to  refer  to  them  before  strangers. 
Again,  the  seventeen-second  reaction  to  chloroform — insensible 
— may  show  the  abhorrence  she  had  to  being  etherised. 

The  few  words  relating  to  tragedy,  blood,  and  kill,  gave  no 
reactions  in  the  normal,  but  in  the  trance  blood  called  out 
water,  and  kill,  horrible.  Death  also  gave  a  superficial  reac- 
tion in  the  control  and  no  reaction  in  the  normal,  and  seems 
to  have  upset  the  reactions  for  the  three  following  words,  the 
reaction  to  the  fourth,  which  was  bed,  being  dead,  and  the  fifth 
giving  no  reaction.     That  is,  not  only  was  no  association  given 

400 


APPENDIX 

for  death,  but  the  effect  of  the  word  seems  to  have  persisted 
for  the  five  following  words.  The  word  spirit  also  ought  to 
be  grouped  here,  since  the  reaction  to  it  was  the  longest  of  any 
in  the  list,  twenty-nine  seconds,  and  was  death.  But,  again, 
it  is  noticeable  that  in  the  trance  neither  death  nor  spirit  had 
even  a  lengthened  reaction,  but  that  blood  and  kill  did. 

We  would  naturally  assume  that  the  trance  reactions  express 
the  more  fundamental  and  subconscious  feelings,  and  would 
infer  from  the  trance  and  normal  reactions  both  that  Mrs. 
Piper  has  at  some  time  had  a  shock  connected  with  killing  and 
blood.  It  may  be  that  to  her  these  words  are  connected  with 
the  operation,  but  against  this  we  have  the  indifferent  reactions 
to  many  of  the  words  bearing  on  the  operation. 

Death  and  spirit,  which  were  such  disturbing  words  to  the 
normal,  call  out  a  quick  but  superficial — that  is,  synonymous — 
reaction  in  the  control,  and  the  reactions  to  women's  occupa- 
tions show  no  characteristically  masculine  ones,  save  perhaps 
in  the  one  to  cuff.  We  may  dismiss  entirely,  I  think,  the  idea 
that  the  Hodgson  control's  masculinity  is  anything  more  than 
superficial. 

In  both  the  control  and  normal  we  find  a  decided  tendency 
to  superficial  reactions  nust  after  a  suppressed  or  delayed  one. 
This  is  especially  noticeable  in  the  normal,  in  nine  cases  of 
purely  phonic  reactions,  such  as  sweep,  sweeping,  of  which  all 
but  one  came  after  a  delayed  or  suppressed  reaction.  The  one 
exception  was  Dorr,  door,  which  pun  Mrs.  Piper  had  probably 
heard  before. 

That  is,  to  sum  up,  we  find  that  sex  ideas  cause  delayed  and 
suppressed  reactions  in  the  normal  state  and  delayed  or  super- 
ficial ones  in  the  trance;  that  spirit,  medium,  sleep,  death,  and 
surgeon  seem  also  to  have  emotional  complexes  connected  with 
them. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  make  many  remarks  on  the  avidity 
with  which  the  control  took  up  our  imaginary  spirits,  but  the 
boldness  with  which  he  invented  specific  incidents,  such  as 
the  book  on  Olcott  theories  and  the  scar  or  mole,  is  interesting, 
and  suggests  the  question  which  had  already  come  to  our  mind 
in  connection  with  another  medium,  namely,  whether  it  is  not 
characteristic  of  this  diathesis  to  have  just  such  vivid,  spon- 

401 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

taneous  flashes  of  imagery,  whose  origin  it  knows  no  more  than 
we,  but  which  it  tends  to  believe  in  as  veridical,  somewhat  on 
Descartes's  theory  that  a  clear  and  distinct  idea  is  true.  Such 
a  personality,  we  thought,  is  likely  to  have  premonitions,  vivid 
imagery,  strong  and  unreasonable  likes  and  dislikes,  and  im- 
pulses to  act  which  control  her  more  or  less  without  her  being 
able  to  explain  them. 

For  the  next  sitting,  therefore,  we  prepared  another  list 
of  words,  which  included  most  of  those  considered  signifi- 
cant in  the  first,  and  added  others  designed  to  show  eye  or 
ear  mindedness. 


Test. 

Second  Scries 

First  Series 

Second  Series 

First  Series 

Control, 

Control. 

Normal. 

Normal. 

1.  India 

Calcutta 

Himalaya 

(4) 

2.  beer 

drug 

casket  on 
a  bier 

(6) 

3.  cigar 

tobacco 

smoke 

(3) 

4.  sweet 

sugar 

5.  Botolph 

club 

(3) 

6.  bandage 

untie 

hat-band 

(8) 

accideni 

7.  plaster 

stick 

bas-relief 

(3) 

8.  heal 

foot 

toe 

(2) 

9.  operation 

surgery 

lancet 

(4) 

10.  die 

death 

diamond 

dyes 

(5) 

11.  stomach 

food 

back 

heart 

(2) 

heal 

12.  coffin 

grave 

mummy 

(4) 

13.  wreath 

flowers 

laurel 

(4) 

14.  pill 

store 

nurse 

(5) 

15.  stomach 

bad 

heart 

16.  maturate 

(omitted) 

bite 

(8) 

17.  surgeon 

doctor 

doctor 

Dr.  Kichard- 

son 

(4) 

nurse 

18.  scar 

cut 

burn 

(7) 

cub 

19.  tumour 

disease 

cancer 

boil 

(4) 

disease 

20.  swelling 

green  (  ? ) 

accident 

(3) 

21.  drug 

(omitted) 

clerk 

(3) 

22.  blood 

circulation 

water 

circulate 

(3) 

23.  vein 

impossible 

artery 

(2) 

24.  marriage 

happiness 

union 

children 

(4) 

25.  honeymoon 

journey 

happiness 

(2) 

26.  divorce 

bad 

bad 
402 

separation 

(3) 

separati 

APPENDIX 


Second  Series    First  Series 

Second  Series 

First  Series 

Test. 

Control. 

Control. 

Normal. 

Normal. 

27. 

birth 

life 

life 

(3) 

28. 

^vidow 

lonely 

death 

(4) 

29. 

orphans 

children 

(9) 

30. 

nurse 

doctor 

doctor 

patient 

(3) 

ill 

31. 

affinity 

two  souls  combined     Elbert  Hub- 

bard 

(0) 

32. 

sweetheart 

beautiful  young  girl 

courted 

33. 

courting 

youth 

court 

ten  P.M. 

(9) 

house 

34. 

kiss 

lips 

shake 

35. 

love 

( omitted ) 

glory 

'  love      lies 
bleeding  " 

marriage 

36. 

sex 

man,  womar 

1  coarse 

37. 

jealous 

disgusting 

no  use 

(7) 

38. 

figure 

image 

(illegible) 

figure  two 

(4) 

39. 

male 

( omitted ) 

40. 

dear 

doe 

doe 

running 

(4) 

running 

41. 

stocking 

foot 

(omitted) 

42. 

hair 

scalp 

comb 

head 

(2) 

head 

43. 

limb 

tree 

tree 

foot 

(3) 

back 

44. 

heart 

stomach 

lung 

(4) 

45. 

letter 

correspond- 
ence 

postman 

(3) 

46. 

woman 

mother 

man 

(3) 

47. 

poor 

rich 

splendid 

mean.   A 
Shaker 

48. 

money 
(hesitates) 

hat 

travel 

49. 

inspire 

happiness 

(6) 

50. 

control 

master 

power 

(8) 

51. 

telepathy 

transference 

wireless  te- 
legraphy 

(4) 

52. 

message 

carrying 

(5) 

53. 

test 

trial 

testing 

(3) 

54. 

vision 

optic  nerve 

a.  green 

black 

white  blue  black 

b.  blue 

red 

white 

c.  color 

white 

yellow 

d.  music 

playing 

(omitted)  playing 

(3) 

c.  white 

red 

brown 

(3) 

d.  pink 

(omitted) 

carnation 

(7) 

e.  tone 

403 

metronome 

STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 


Test. 

f.  tune 

g.  sound 
h.  yellow 
t.  black 

;.  spectrum 
k.  grass 
I.  sky 
m.  light 
n.  sun 
o.  organ 
p.  band 
q.  sweet 
r.  loud 
s.  bang 
t.  face 
«.  flowers 
V.  odour 
w.  bitter 
X.  smell 
y.  taste 
».  touch 

55.  trance 

56.  seer 

57.  dream 

58.  spook  (hand 

calls      for 
repetition) 

59.  sleep 

60.  daughter 

61.  husband 

62.  moon 


Second  Series    First  Series     Second  Series  First  Series 

Control.  Control.  Normal.  Normal. 


1.  check,  2.  check  (5) 


green 
brown 
(not  understood) 
garden 
blue 
sun 

playing 
horn 
sour 
harsh 

nose 

roses 

perfume 

taste 

scent 

tongue 

handle 

dance 


daisy 

dress 

vision 

walk 

cloud 

globe 

heat 


(6) 

(6) 
(9) 
(2) 
(6) 

(2) 


1.  body,  2.  organ  grinder 


stupor 

visionary 

sleep 


chocolate 
soft 

hair 

garden 

chloroform 

sweet 

taste 

smell 

feel 

sleep 


wandering  sleep 


(3) 
(2) 
(7) 
(3) 
(2) 
(5) 


(2) 
(2) 
(4) 
(8) 
(5) 


sleep 


ghost  cabinet 

(omitted)  insomnia     bed 

mother  son  son 

friend  wife 

light  lake 


(7) 

bed 
(2)    sister 
(4) 
(5) 


Reaction  times  were  shorter  in  the  waking  state  of  the 
third  sitting  than  in  the  second,  though  still  much  longer  than 
normal  (1.5-2.5  seconds).  This  was  doubtless  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  waking  reactions  were  given  before  instead  of  after 
the  trance.  In  the  second  sitting  the  waking  reactions  were 
all  so  slow  that  we  considered  only  reactions  of  over  ten  sec- 
onds as  above  the  average,  while  in  the  third  sitting  no  reac- 
tion was  over  nine  seconds,  and  we  considered  any  longer  than 
five  seconds  as  delayed. 

404 


APPENDIX 

On  this  basis,  comparing  the  common  words,  we  find  that 
much  the  same  words  are  reacted  to  slowly  or  have  no  reac- 
tions given,  showing  that  in  both  cases  they  touched  some 
inhibitory  centres.  The  new  words  which  are  reacted  to  slowly 
or  not  reacted  to  can  all  be  connected  with  one  or  another  of 
the  first  complexes,  so  that  our  first  inferences,  that  these  words 
arouse  strong  emotions,  tend  to  be  confirmed. 

We  could  not,  however,  follow  up  these  reactions  properly 
with  a  psycho-analysis  of  Mrs.  Piper,  and  so,  while  we  may 
suspect  strong  emotional  complexes  focussing  about  the  groups 
of  words  described,  we  are  unable  to  describe  those  complexes  in 
detail,  and  the  chief  value  of  the  reactions  is  in  the  comparisons 
of  the  trance  and  the  normal  state. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  list  gives  the  more  important  books  on  the 

psychical  phenomena  of  Spiritism: 

Abbott,  D.  P.,  "  Behind  the  Scenes  with  the  Mediums,"  1907, 
328  pp. 

(An   expose   of   physical   phenomena,   such   as  mate- 
rialisations.) 

Barrett,  W.  F.,  "  New  World  of  Thought,"  1908,  127  pp. 
(A  believer's  account  of  Eusapia  Palladino.) 

Bennett,  E.  T.,  "  The  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  its  Rise 
and  Progress,"  1903. 

Bruce,   H.    Addington,   "The   Riddle   of   Personality,"    1908, 
239  pp. 
(Believes  in  telepathy,  but  not  in  Spiritism.) 

Carrington,  Hereward,   "  The  Physical  Phenomena  of   Spir- 
itualism," 426  pp. 

"  The  Coming  Science,"  L.,  389  pp. 

"  Eusapia  Palladino  and  her  Phenomena,"  353  pp. 

(A  believer's  accounts.) 
Flammarion,  Camille,  "  The  Unknown." 

"  Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  L.,  453  pp. 

(Holds  that  Spiritism  is  not  yet  proven,  but  also  not 

unprovable.) 
Gurney,  Podmore,  and  Myers,  "  Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  L., 

1886,  2  vols. 

(A  large  collection  of  cases.     Veridical  apparitions 

and  telepathy  are  accepted.) 
Hyslop,  James,  "  Science  and  a  Future  Life,"  1905,  372  pp. 

"  Enigmas  of  Psychical  Research,"  1906,  427  pp. 

"  Psychical  Research  and  the  Resurrection,"  1908,  409  pp. 

(Hyslop  is  an  ardent  believer.     These  books  for  the 
most  part  restate  the  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper.) 
406 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Lodge,  Oliver,  "  Survival  of  Man,"  L,  1909,  354  pp. 
"  Man  and  the  Universe." 

(Lodge  is  also  a  believer.) 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  "  Human  Personality,"  1903,  2  vols. 

(An  elaborate  argument  to  prove  personal  survival 

from  the  phenomena  of  Spiritism.) 
PoDMORE,    Frank,    "  Studies    in    Psychical    Eesearch,"    1897, 

354  pp. 

"Modern  Spiritualism,"  1903,  2  vols. 

"  Naturalisation  of  the  Supernatural,"  1908,  364  pp. 

"  Telepathic  Hallucinations,  the  New  View  of  Ghosts," 

L.,  1909,  128  pp. 

(In  general  these  books  discredit  Spiritism,  but  argue 
for  telepathy.) 

Sage,   M.,   "  Mrs.    Piper   and   the   Society   for   Psychical   Ee- 
search," L.,  1903,  187  pp. 

(A  somewhat  uncritical  and   inaccurate   account  of 
the  Piper  records.) 

Thomas,  N.  W.,  "  Thought-Transference,"  L.,  1905,  210  pp. 

"  Crystal  Gazing,"  L,  1905,  162  pp. 

(Good   summaries   of  the   work   of  the   Society  for 
Psychical  Research  on  these  subjects.) 

WiLLSON,  Beckles,  "  Occultism  and  Common  Sense,"  L.,  291  pp. 
(Argument  for  Spiritism.) 

VASCHroE,  N.,  "  Les  Hallucinations  Telepathiques,"  Paris,  1908, 
97  pp. 
(Reduction  of  telepathy  to  coincident  thoughts.) 

ViOLLET,  M.,  "  Le  Spiritisme  dans  ses  Rapports  avec  la  Folie," 
Paris,  1908,  120  pp. 

(Showing  the  parallel  between  various  forms  of  in- 
sanity and  the  belief  in  spirit  communication.) 

Miss  X.  (A.  Goodrich  Freer),  "  Essays  in  Psychical  Research," 
L.,  1899,  326  pp. 

The  original  material,  however,  which  must  be  read  by 
any  one  who  wishes  to  form  an  independent  judgment  is  con- 
tained in  the  Proceedings  and  Journal  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  from  1882  to  the  present  time,  es- 
pecially    the    Proceedings,     which     contain    the     cases    that 

407 


STUDIES    IN    SPIRITISM 

have   stood   the   Society's   tests   and   are   allowed   to   be   pub- 
lished. 

The  American  Society  for  Psychical  Research  also  has 
Proceedings  (1885-89  and  1907  to  the  present)  and  Journal 
(1907  to  the  present),  which  should  also  be  read  to  see  the 
character  of  the  evidence  accepted  by  Hyslop. 

The  following  books  deal  especially  with  the  questions  of 
subconscious  selves  and  alternating  personalities: 
BiNET,  A.,  "  Alterations  of  Personality,"  1896. 
Breuer  und  Freud,  "  Studien  iiber  Hysteric,"  1895. 
Preud,  Sigmund,  "Die  Traumdeutung,"  1909. 

"  The  Origin  and  Development  of  Psycho- Analysis,"  Am. 

Jour,  of  Psy.,  April,  1910. 

(There  is  as  yet  very  little  in  English  on  Freud's 
work,  and  none  of  his  writings  have  been  translated, 
but  they  are  of  great  importance  for  the  understand- 
ing of  the  subconscious  activities.  The  number  of 
the  Am.  Jour,  of  Psy.  just  referred  to  also  contains 
summaries  of  Freud's  theory  of  dreams  by  E.  Jones 
and  S.  Ferenczi.) 

Flournoy,  Th.,  "  From  India  to  the  Planet  Mars." 

(A  very  careful  study  of  the  origin  of  the  messages 
from  a  supposed  medium,  showing  them  to  be  sub- 
merged memories.) 

Janet,  P.,  "  The  Mental  State  of  Hystericals." 

"  The  Major  Symptoms  of  Hysteria." 

Jastrow,  Joseph,  "  Fact  and  Fable  in  Psychology,"  1901. 

"  The  Subconscious,"  1906. 

Prince,  Morton,  "  The  Dissociation  of  a  Personality,"  1906. 

(The  case  of  Miss  Beauchamp.) 
B.  C.  A.,  "  My  Life  as  a  Dissociated  Personality,"  1909,  47  pp. 

(The  patient's  own  account,  after  a  cure.) 
Seybert  Commission,  "Preliminary  Eeport,"  1887. 

(An  expose  of  Spiritism.) 
SiDis,  Boris,  "  The  Psychology  of  Suggestion,"  1898. 

"  Psycho-pathological  Researches,"  1907. 

SiDis  AND  GooDHART,  "  Multiple  Personality,"  1905,  456  pp. 

(These  and  Prince's  book  refer  multiple  personalities 
to  modifications  of  brain  activities.) 
408 

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